


Dear Astoria

by BloodyFlammable, Drakey



Series: Stay safe, Astoria [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: American Wizarding Schools, Animagus, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Letter Game, Muggle Culture, Multi, Native American Magic, Patronus, People Playing Matchmaker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-11-19 00:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 22,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11301639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodyFlammable/pseuds/BloodyFlammable, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakey/pseuds/Drakey
Summary: The second Wizarding War has started in Great Britain and rumor has it, no one is safe. No one except maybe Astoria Greengrass, because, really, Purebloods have nothing to worry about. Still, Shelly worries, because what else can she do, nine thousand miles away?A story about friendship, rain dances, first love, growing up and opening eyes. Takes place during HBP.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Drakey:** This is a Letter Game story, which is a way of doing an epistolary story with two writers. The way it works is that one writer sends a letter in character, and the other one responds in character, without discussing the story outside of the letters.
> 
>  **BloodyFlammable:** Yeaaah, we kinda cheated a bit about that. ^^
> 
>  **D:** Which is perfectly okay, because it means you get a better story. I wrote as Shelly Fletcher, a student in a school of magic in the USA. It was hard to find a reason for her to write to a Hogwarts student, but I found a way. Most letter games will assume the characters already know each other, but that would have taken a lot of setup. Here’s hoping you like my solution! 
> 
> **BF:** And I wrote as Astoria Greengrass. This is set during HBP, so Astoria is in 4th year.
> 
>  **D:** We have all 23 chapters written and ready to go, and we’ll be posting Sundays and Wednesdays.
> 
>  **BF:** We hope you’ll enjoy! Let us know in the comments :)

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Tuesday, September 17, 1996

Dear Astoria,  
My name is Shelly Fletcher, and I am writing to you to ask your opinion on current events. I am a junior (you would call it sixth year) at the Rainpath Center for Magical Education in North America. Part of my course of studies is an outreach to students from around the world, and I've chosen to reach out to four students at Hogwarts on the advice of your Professor McGonagall. I'll be contacting yourself, Dean Thomas, Leanne Jonson, and Morag MacDougal, to ask about the news of Voldemort's return to power and the renewed strife in the British magical community.

I have three questions to start with:  
1: Does the news affect your social life or the social lives of your peers or family?  
2: Is there an atmosphere of fear? The news out of Britain makes it sound like everyone is afraid for their lives there.  
3: Do you support the Ministry of Magic or the group that calls itself the Death Eaters?

I look forward to reading your reply, and I hope I'll be able to answer any questions you have in return.

Sincerely,

  
Flatcap, Rainpath Center for Magical Education,  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Drakey:** This getting-to-know-you stage of the writing was pretty interesting. The girls meshed really well from the start, what with them both being naturally curious.
> 
>  **BF:** It was also very amusing to write, with Astoria being all teenaged and bigoted. :)

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education,  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA.

Saturday, the 28th of September, 1996

Dear Shelly,

I’m flattered Professor McGonagall gave you my name. I am a 4th year student, I’ve just turned fourteen. I don’t know Morag MacDougal, but Leanne belongs to the same tutoring group as I do, she’s really clever. Dean Thomas played in the Gryffindor quidditch team last year and, surprisingly, he wasn’t bad.

Look at me, I’m writing about Gryffindor, not considering you may have not heard of it. Do you know about the Hogwarts’ houses? Do you have houses in your school? (Is Flatcap your house?)

~ ~  _My answers to your questions ~_ ~

1\. Does the news affect your social life or the social lives of your peers or family?  
Not very much, to be honest. My summer was fairly normal, the return of He-Who-Must-Not-(Please)-Be-Named hasn’t been mentioned, either by my parents or my sister, and I haven’t asked.  
As far as I’m concerned, Hogwarts feels the same as usual. I know people talk a lot about what is happening, but the only noticeable changes affect the security reinforcement. I don’t know why they bother, though, it’s not as if we were a target.

2\. Is there an atmosphere of fear?  
I imagine only the muggle-born and the muggle lovers have something to fear about, but I have to confess I didn’t feel one hundred percent at ease when I went to Diagon Alley with my mom before the term started. People were whispering and walking fast, and the air was weirdly cold. I saw myself reminded of the time I crossed paths with a dementor a couple of years ago.

3\. Do you support the Ministry of Magic or the group that calls itself the Death Eaters?  
Do I have to support one? There are wrongdoings on both sides. I just feel like that is not my war to fight, you know?

Will you be writing a paper on your research? Can I know the other’s answers? For what course is it exactly?

I’m looking forward to reading your next letter!! I’m eager to learn about your school.

Yours sincerely,  


PS: You mentioned you were a junior. Does that mean you’ve passed an examination last year? We take the OWLs at the end of fifth year. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: Harry Potter is unique for how much worldbuilding you can do within it. I appreciate that when I get to write things like this. Plus, the idea of other magical schools and how they work has always intrigued me.
> 
> BF: And you’ve done it beautifully. Seriously it feels like you had had this headcanon for years considering how consistent everything is.
> 
> D: I have had this headcanon for years. Even Shelly as a character has existed in my head for years.

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Saturday, October 12, 1996

Dear Astoria,  
Can you believe only you and Dean Thomas wrote back to me? My International Politics teacher, Doctor Spirit Song, says that it’s lucky even two wrote back, with how stressful it must be to be in England right now. Mister Thomas tells me that he’s a little afraid because he doesn’t know if his father was a wizard or a “muggle” (after you used the word, I looked it up. We call them a few different things, depending where we grew up. I’m used to no-maj, but I’ve heard muddler, PWM, and escaso).

I read up on Hogwarts before I wrote to you, so I know what the houses are. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sound like my sort of people, but mister Thomas seems nice enough, so I guess Gryffindor must not be as arrogant as I would think. It was very astute of you to guess that Flatcap is my house. It’s not quite the same thing, but it’s the same concept. I know that Rainpath, Rockhouse, Ilvermorny, and Arte Precioso have some variation on the houses that Hogwarts has, but Ilvermorny is the only one that has four based directly on Hogwarts. I know Rockhouse has three, and Arte Precioso has _nineteen!_

Rainpath only has Flatcaps and Fedoras, and we’ve only had them for about fifty years. Apparently, about ten years after the school was founded, one of the younger students started up a game of cops and robbers and the whole school got caught up in it, and since everyone was wearing a hat, they showed whether they were cops or robbers by transfiguring it into a flatcap or a fedora. Flatcaps are clever, loyal, cunning, and quick, and Fedoras are brave, hardworking, stubborn, and righteous. We’re given enchanted hats on our first day every year and they change to what we’ll be that year. I’ve been a Flatcap every single year.

As for being a junior: most American schools use the United States’ grade levels. We do pre-wanded schooling (it took decades to get a Quill of Acceptance working in the Americas, but we have several of them now, so we can always find the people who are going to be in magical schools) from grades one through five (that’s ages six through eleven). In pre-wanded schooling, we learn life skills like math, science, English, working with no-majes, and controlling accidental magic. Here at Rainpath, we also learn some Native American magic, like the rain dance, the spirit-cat dance, and the wind dance.

When we turn eleven, we get our wands (does Britain really only have one wandmaker?) and in grades six through eight, we mostly learn wanded magic. Then we become freshmen and it changes a little. At the end of eighth grade, we take a test to tell us what magic we’re showing the most aptitude for, and we start taking electives in freshman year and take a test every year to help us specialize, from freshman, to sophomore, to junior, and finally senior. I’m taking AP Transfiguration, International Politics, Magic and Technology, Potions 3, History, AP English, French 2, and Film Appreciation, plus intramural Track and Field and intramural Air LaCrosse. I’m also working on becoming an animagus for my final Transfigurations project. I’m on track to graduate just fine, but if I did poorly in my classes, I would fail them individually, and then I might not be able to graduate until I’ve passed enough classes. We call someone who does that a supersenior.

I’ll be doing a big project for my International Politics class, and part of it is going to be from your answers. Do you have anything like International Politics where you learn about other cultures? I’ve heard that British magical schools have very narrow curriculums, but I don’t know if that’s just nationalism.

Sincerely,  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BloodyFlammable: I am totally a Flatcap. :P


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BloodyFlammable: When I was about Astoria’s age, I had a penpal. I re-read her letters for the purpose of this fic and it was hilarious. There are hearts on the ‘i’s, little doodles all over, candy wrappers, and even glittering stickers. So this is how I imagine Astoria’s letters. All girly and teenaged, with hearts on the ‘i’s and little doodles all over.
> 
> Drakey: That caught me off-guard. I never had a pen-pal, let along a teenaged girl as a pen-pal, so i was just picturing a nice letter, casually dashed off over a dull afternoon. I liked where you went with it, though. Astoria's character really shines through in the way she embellishes her letters.

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education,  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA.  
  


Saturday, the 29th of October, 1996  
  


Dear Shelly,

Dean Thomas does seem like a nice bloke and he is quite good-looking for a muggle-born. It makes sense that he wants you to think he’s a pureblood because of the current circumstances. I hope you’ll forgive me, though, but I don’t buy it.

That’s fascinating to learn about your school. I haven’t given much thought to wizarding schools worldwide before, but your letter encouraged me to look up some of them, and there is a whole section in Hogwarts library about wizards around the world. I’ve found a couple of books about Ilvermorny, but nothing about Rainpath.

I think the concept of Fedoras and Flatcap is interesting, but it must lack the membership Hogwarts houses provide. Do you have a system of points as we do? What is the interest of belonging to one or the other?

I didn’t quite get the word “cop” in your letter and couldn’t find it in any book I’ve looked in. As I’ve understood it, it sounds like a cop is the American version of an auror. Is that it?

According to your descriptions, I see myself more as a Flatcap than a Fedora. And it’s not a bad thing, considering that I’ve seen some pictures of fedora hats, and that’s clearly not something I’d allow near my head.

The Hogwarts’ uniform also contains a hat, although we only have to wear them for official banquets and ceremonies. Ours are pointy and black, and everyone has the same design, except for the teachers. Professor Dumbledore - our Headmaster - always wears odd hats. Today, it was a blue one with silver stars all over it!

We don’t have pre-wanded schools in the United Kingdom. The education of children before the age of eleven is left to the parents. My sister and I had an instructor that came five days a week. His name is Alex and he taught us basic skills such as controlling accidental magic, English, Maths just like you, but also Broom flying, History of Magic and Etiquette. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but Alex also taught me how to cast a few simple spells so I was ready for my first lessons. I know some parents choose to home-teach, but some of them send their children to muggle schools!!

Can you believe some students didn’t even know they were wizards before they got their acceptance letter to Hogwarts?

You’re right, we only have one wandmaker in the UK, but Ollivander is the best you can find. When I bought my wand before my first year, he explained to me that he spends a lot of his time wandering around the world to find the best woods and best cores for his wands himself. Did you know you have to remove a unicorn hair two days before the full moon for it to have the best magical potential?

It looks as though our curriculums are indeed quite different. Some of your courses seem rather boring to me and some of them are fairly obscure. What are “Film Appreciation”, “Track and Field” and “Air Lacrosse”? Are they sports? We only have quidditch here.

I’m preparing for ten OWLs: Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, History of Magic and Astronomy, which are the compulsory subjects and also Study of Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and (my favourite!) Arithmancy. Divination was also available but it couldn’t fit in my time table. Some students have chosen Muggle Studies. I don’t know what they do in there, but I believe they learn how to handle muggles.

A few clubs are also available for those who want to extend their knowledge field. I’ve won the chess tournament in my first and second year, so I’ve decided to leave the chess club in favour of the tutoring club. I’m also doing art, orchestra, magical theory and debate.

Your Native American course sounds like fun! I find the absence of Pluvius and Ventus in Hogwarts curriculum regrettable, and I wish I could learn rain dance and wind dance. What is spirit-cat dance? Does it have anything to do with animagi?

I can’t believe you’re becoming an Animagus, by the way, you must be really brilliant! I’ve read somewhere that there only have been seven registered Animagi in Great Britain this century. The process is highly controlled by the Ministry of Magic and forbidden to underage wizards.

We do not learn about other cultures in Hogwarts, although we did host students from two other schools for the Triwizard Tournament a couple of years ago, and that was an interesting experiment.

I almost forgot! You wouldn’t believe what has happened! Leanne Jonson’s best friend was attacked last week! Rumour says she’s been cursed by another student, as no one has seen anyone suspicious near Hogsmeade that day. She hasn’t come back from St-Mungo’s yet.

Yours sincerely, 

PS: I wouldn’t take personally the fact that neither Morag MacDougal nor Leanne had answered to you. I’ve learned from my sister that Morag is in 7th year, as well as Leanne, and therefore they must be very busy with the NEWTs to come. I talked to Leanne after her friend was attacked, and she’s quite troubled, as you might assume. She told me she will try to write back when she has the time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: The girls miscommunicated a little in the beginning. It was very funny, and it made for what I think is a more believable friendship. This is the part of Shelly’s personality that amuses me the most. She’s somewhere between a party animal and a free-love poster-child.
> 
> BloodyFlammable: And I love that about her. Also, there is no friendship without a good misunderstanding.

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Wednesday, November 13, 1996

Dear Astoria,  
I think you mistook my meaning. Dean isn’t trying to convince me he’s a pureblood. His mother is a no-maj. He just thinks his dad might have been a wizard, and I guess he’s trying to find some proof in case things go south. He’s also sent me a picture of him with his best friend Seamus. You never told me Dean was so handsome! And his friend! What a cutie!

Honestly, though, “good-looking for a muggle-born?” I hope you haven’t been denying yourself the joys of boys just because of piddling little matters like that! Pretty boys like those two are meant to be appreciated! Besides, without no-majes and no-majborns (it’s such a clumsy word. I like Magbob better. It’s a really positive term and it’s fun and old-timey) there would be very, very few witches and wizards left. You know, the Salem Witches’ Institute just published a study with the International Commission for Magical Discovery that says strictly pureblood families have been producing more gobacks (I think you call them squids or squeaks or something in Britain) for the last century and a half, and it might be because they’re refusing to marry outside of pureblood lines and limiting their gene pool, so whatever makes a goback is kind of getting bred in.

You’re very, very right about one thing: Depending on the source there’s “around a thousand” or “about five hundred” students at Hogwarts, and that covers just seven grades, but here at Rainpath we have a full twelve grades and only 506 students. Right now, it’s 281 Flatcaps and 225 Fedoras in six dormitory buildings.

When you asked about points, I pulled a copy of Hogwarts: A History out of the library. We don’t have anything like that, but Flatcaps and Fedoras do still play a bit of cops and robbers (a cop is a sort of auror for no-majes. They keep the peace and catch no-maj criminals, so cops and robbers is a bit like aurors and necromancers), so we compete by jinxing each other and playing pranks instead of earning points. Mostly the different hats determine your schedule. Our teachers divide up the classes by their hats.

I look pretty darn good in a fedora, actually. I like to swipe people’s hats at parties and wear them until their owners have to go home. You should vary your wardrobe a little. You never know what will look good.

People not knowing they’re witches and wizards until they get a wand is a terrible idea, if you ask me. I hear that there’s all sorts of accidental magic problems in Britain. The authorities here stamp that out very quickly. If a child has magic, the Federal Bureau of Education and Welfare makes sure they’re educated for everyone’s safety. After the Barebone disaster in 1926, no-maj families aren’t allowed to keep their child out of school.

Air LaCrosse and Track and Field are sports, but Film Appreciation isn’t. Air LaCrosse is sort of like Quidditch, only Quidditch isn’t allowed in schools in the United States because of the bludgers. Kind of ironic, since air lacrosse is ridiculously dangerous. I broke my arm four times last year! Track and Field is running, racing, and jumping events. Physical sports. I’m not very good, but I do it to keep in shape. Film Appreciation is a class where we watch movies and analyze them. Last week we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and that was really funny (obviously), but we learned about how the comedy comes from deep social commentary. We’re getting ready to watch the Star Wars Trilogy next, and I’m looking forward to it. I was completely lost during The Godfather. I couldn’t figure out who was a police officer and who was a mobster!

I took a full Native American Magical Studies course in freshman and sophomore years, and I learned all sorts of spells. A lot of them use dancing. The Spirit Cats is the best way to measure how good someone is with Native American magic. It’s a dance that conjures a couple of big cats and imbues them with your will and magical signature. The healthier and bigger they look, the better you are at the form. Doctor Macduff, the principal, can summon them powerful enough to drive off dementors and fight a patronus charm! Mine are still sort of scrawny, but they have nice, shiny coats and they’re very graceful.

I hear Hogwarts has an official self-defence course. Is that new because of Voldemort, or has it always been taught there? I joined the dueling club in seventh grade, but it wasn’t the same thing as being taught how to actually fight. My dad did most of that (“how many times do I have to tell you to fight dirty, Shelly!”) for me, although he did hire someone to teach me to use potions in fights.

I was interested in becoming an animagus for years, and my Transfigurations teacher, Ms. Loeffrey, said I might be able to because I’m very good in her subject. Did you know you can’t choose what animal you’ll become. I’m horribly afraid that I’ll end up as a weasel or a toad or something, and Ms. Loeffrey says I’m not allowed to start the work until I can get rid of that fear, or I’ll risk ending up stuck halfway between human and animal for years.

I heard the Triwizard Tournament went horribly wrong. Of course, the end of it was covered pretty well by all the press, since it’s not every day a dark wizard comes back from the dead, but when I looked it up, I think Harry Potter wasn’t even supposed to be there! What did you think of all that?

For that matter, what do you think of Harry Potter? Do you know him at all?

Poor Katie! Leanne told me all about the attack, and sent her regrets for not being able to get back to me sooner. Morag still hasn’t written, but Leanne said a lot about her that makes me think she won’t be writing to me at all. You win some and you lose some, I suppose.

Who do you think could have attacked Katie? It’s scary to think that someone might be running around attacking Hogwarts students! Stay safe, Astoria!

Sincerely,  


P.S. I’ve included a picture of me and my friends in the cafeteria at Rainpath, with the big picture window looking out over the valley behind us. I know we’re all in the way, but hopefully you can get an idea. Hogwarts is supposed to be beautiful, but here in the USA, we keep our beautiful things outside!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: Got this in just under the wire! I've been kind of stuck in a new computer game and... I may have neglected this site a little.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: One of the very early versions of Shelly had a crush on Harry Potter until she caught wind that he had said some unkind things about Native American magic. At that, he wound up humiliated and covered in pond scum.

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education,  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA.

Saturday, the 29th of November, 1996

Dear Shelly,

Your comment over Seamus Finnigan made me laugh. As you may imagine, every girl in my year is heels over head for him. I don’t recall seeing him with anyone recently, though. The girls sometimes joke and say he’s in love with Dean, and that’s the reason he always rejects them.

Dean must have mentioned it, but he’s dating the Weasley girl. When you look at her - and the whole bunch, for all it’s worth -, you wouldn’t believe she’s a pureblood. She’s so common, you know?

Speaking of, if purebloods are indeed breeding Squids, I reckon the Weasleys are the ones who have messed about in the forbidden forest. (Alright, you may not understand my joke. cf. the section about the Great Lake in Hogwarts: A history)  
Our word for “goback” is squib, you weren’t far! I don’t know if your theory is right, but I can’t picture how it could be. I’ll give it some reading when the exams are finished.

Being a fourth year is so stressing! There’s only one year left before the OWLs, and I feel like there are still a million things to learn. We’re together with Hufflepuff for almost every major class, and they are so slow! I have the impression we won’t ever finish the fourth year’s curriculum, let alone the fifth year’s.

I wouldn’t say that I “deny myself the joys of boys”. It’s just that most boys here are easy on the eyes, but not really my kind of person and definitely not my parents’, so why would I bother?  
Although there is this guy I like. He’s tall and fit and funny and he has ♥ this smile ♥  
He’s never talked to me, but my sister knows him. I wish he’d asked me to the Christmas party our Potion’s teacher is having.

Do you have a boyfriend?

Thanks for the picture, by the way. You and your friends look nice! Were you celebrating a birthday?  
Is the eagle by the window from the MACUSA logo? Even if Hogwarts does depend on the Ministry, I would hardly imagine the Ministry logo encrusted in the castle - if you forget the Ministry decrees wall from last year, that is. Is the cloud on the other side of the window your school’s emblem?  
The landscape does look gorgeous, but I disagree when you say you keep beautiful things outside. I mean, have you seen the bloke at your right?

It sounds like you have a lot of fun in Rainpath. I couldn’t imagine playing pranks and games all day long. It must be frustrating to only compete this way! I bet your teachers don’t know who wins your cops and robbers games.

I hadn’t realised Track and Field and Lacrosse were muggle sports. I’ve looked at it in a muggle book - did you know we have a whole section about muggles in the library? I don’t know if they’re being read all so much - and Lacrosse seems fine, despite looking very dangerous indeed, even more than Quidditch! You’re right about the bludgers, there are accidents at almost every match, not to mention the training.

Just so you know, everything you’ve said about the films didn’t made any sense to me. I looked like an idiot, but I had to ask Professor McGonagall about it. I thought it was some American book publishing! I have to admit, the way you talk about it intrigues me. Maybe I’ll ask Mother to go to the pictures during the hols. I’ll tell you.

Concerning the Animagus, I’m sure you’ll come to it! You just have to believe in yourself. Keep in mind that you can’t possibly turn into an animal you dislike. Your Animagus Form is supposed to be your inner form, did you know this? Do you have an animal you want your Form to be?  
Anyway, I’ve heard most people turn into the same animal as their patronus. Do you know how to cast a patronus? I’ve read everything about the theory. It has been added on the seventh year DADA curriculum, I can’t wait! I wish we had Native American magic lessons here, it sounds fascinating. Are there books about it? I’d love to lay hands on one.

I still keep a good memory of the Triwizard tournament, actually. The tournament lasted the whole year, and it was absolutely delightful to live together with the students from Beauxbâtons.  
But as you know, the Hogwarts’ champion was killed at the very end, and it was really sad. I, for one, couldn’t bring myself to eat for two whole days after the news. Cedric was nice and a good prefect. He is the one who led me to the Ravenclaw common room after I got lost the very first night.  
When he died, Professor Dumbledore said something about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (I’d appreciate if you’d stop writing his name. Even written, it’s quite… disturbing.), but it was a very confusing speech, and everyone was saying something different on the subject, so by then I didn’t know what to think of it. Accidents did happen on a regular basis during the previous versions of the tournament, after all.

For the entire last year, I was convinced Harry Potter was talking rubbish to cover the fact he had stolen the Cup from Cedric, the true winner. And really, winning against the Dark Lord while you’re a fourth year?

I do not know Harry Potter all that much, but my sister does. As far as I know, he’s an arrogant Gryffindor (what a pleonasm!) who thinks the entire school waits for him to do something stupid and dangerous for the sake of glory. As if we didn’t have better things to do. 

According to the Triwizard tournament’s rules, he wasn’t supposed to be there, of course. But he found a way, didn’t he? Why do you ask this? Do you seriously think he’d been enrolled against his will? It didn’t look like it, believe me. He spent the entire year showing off in the spotlight.  
This whole “chosen one” thing is just another example of his will to seek attention.

There is no such thing as a self-defense course in Hogwarts, where have you heard of it? Are you talking of the duelling club that opened at the beginning of the term?

 

Apparently, Professor Dumbledore finds it wise to scare the students and make them think they run the risk of being attacked at every corner. I went to the first lesson out of curiosity, but it was far from reaching my expectations. You would think they’d call an Auror in, but no, the duelling club mainly consists of seventh year students who teach younger students to cast second year level defensive spells. What is the point, I’m asking you.

As for Katie, the rumour about her being attacked by another student has worn off by now, and to be honest, I’m not sure she’s been attacked at all. Apparently, she’s been injured by touching a cursed object. You would know all about Gryffindors by now, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had put herself into danger all on her own. I’m sure I’m safe, don’t worry.

I’ve enclosed a photo of me and my sister in the Great Hall. Have you seen the enchanted ceiling? I love it when it’s rainy outside like that. It feels cosy, eating your porridge and being warm while you see the rain over your head. It’s even more beautiful in reality.

Yours,  


PS: So far, I’ve been receiving your letters with a four-day delay. As I’ll be home for the entire hols, if you send your reply after the 17th, you may want to send it directly to:  
The Greengrass Mansion  
Fen Ditton, England, Great Britain

P.PS: Do you like chocolate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BloodyFlammable: “Do you like chocolate” is actually the first sentence I learned in English. I was in kindergarden, and a friend of me had learned it from her mom. I mislearned how to pronounce “chocolate” that day. I still can’t pronounce it right.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: I promise, this actually is leading up to Deamus. They are my OTP, and while I don’t put them in every HP fic I write, I do put them in most.
> 
> BF: I am still convinced that Deamus is canon and Harry was too oblivious to notice.

Astoria Greengrass  
The Greengrass Mansion  
Fen Ditton, England, Great Britain

Wednesday, December 18, 1996.

Dear Astoria,  
I hope Seamus isn’t in love with Dean! My father is going to Ireland on business in just a few days, and I convinced him to bring me so I could meet some people, Seamus included. You’ll get this letter after the next one I send, probably. Seamus sent a little note with Dean’s last letter and I hope I can get him alone for a while.

I’ll give you a couple of books on genetics when I’m there. I might have to send them by owl (why do you use owls in Europe? My goose is tough and better at distances than an owl would be), but when I do get them to you, I’ll make sure there’s a note explaining why they’ll help the pureblood cause. I looked up your family in a few European History books, and I guess your parents would hate you reading no-maj science books if you didn’t have a good explanation. There will be a couple of my old basic spelldancing books in there, too.

I figured out why your letters take so long to get to me, by the way! Apparently everything that gets sent from Britain to the USA is getting searched really thoroughly. I guess President Geunther was nearly killed or something when some Death Eater sent her a cursed letter.

I don’t have a boyfriend. That boy on my right in the picture was my boyfriend for a while last year, and we hooked up once or twice this year. We were all celebrating his big win in the hundred-meter dash. Don’t get too infatuated, though; he’s a bit of a… I’m going to be relatively polite and say “scoundrel.” Andrew has a reputation with girls, and I think I’m the only one he never cheated on.

Your picture was lovely, too. Is that Albus Dumbledore behind you? He looks like he hurt his hand. He keeps favoring it, anyway. And the blond boy down the table… I am positively drooling! Why is he with that overly made-up girl? Of course, the blonde girl with the HUGE eyes that they’re talking to is even prettier than he is. Why is she wearing radishes on her ears, though?

I can’t cast a patronus. That’s part of the self-defense thing. I was talking about your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes when I mentioned that. I’m pretty good at duelling, but that’s different from getting in a fight! I’ve asked to be taught how to cast one, but people keep telling me I don’t have the prerequisite learning to do it. I’d like to be able to turn into a bird or a lion, though. Maybe I’ll cast a patronus and discover I can become a party animal!

I’m of two minds about Harry Potter. I mean, on the one hand, I’ve heard all sorts of rumors that there’s a prophecy about him or something, and usually when that happens, people’s lives are supposed to get very weird, but I’ve also heard that most of the trouble he’s had is things he could have avoided. I know most of the people you talk to probably think he’s full of… you know, things… but from what Dean tells me, people think that about him basically every year, and he always turns out to be right or to have done good in the end. 

I think you should give him a chance. Remember, you can learn more and better from what you experience than from what you hear others say. Also: what’s a “pleonasm?”

I love chocolate! I tried one of those chocolate frog things, though, and it made me throw up.

Sincerely,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Astoria Greengrass  
The Greengrass Mansion  
Fen Ditton, England, Great Britain

Saturday, December 21, 1996

Dear Astoria,

I arrived in Dublin last night. Dad insisted on taking no-maj transport, and I’ve never been less comfortable than crammed into an airplane with dozens of other people. This letter should reach you in a day or two. I’m sending this using Seamus’ owl, Lucretia. I’ll be in London Christmas Eve, visiting Diagon Alley. You’ll be able to meet me at a pub called the Leaky Cauldron at 2 in the afternoon. I guess Dad’s going to be meeting someone from the Ministry of Magic.

Anyway, this is just a quick letter to say I’m here. I’m sorry it’s such short notice, but I didn’t have much notice myself, either.

Anyway, I have to keep this letter short. Dad has gone out for some shopping, and Seamus is “showing me his room.” I’ll tell you all about it later.

Sincerely,  


PS. I hope you don’t mind my not coming along to say hello. Mum says the Greengrasses aren’t to be trusted. I say Mum’s full of hooey, but apparently a fourth year girl is too dangerous to go and meet.

~~Seamus Finnigan, super-magical sex machine


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: Astoria’s enthusiasm and her being mildly but happily scandalized by this is fantastic.

Shelly Fletcher,  
Chez Seamus Finnigan,  
Dublin

Sunday, the 22nd of December, 1996

Dear Shelly,

What happened in Seamus Finnigan’s room?! You have to tell me everything about it!

I’m so sorry, but I won’t be able to make it to the Leaky on Tuesday. I asked Mother for permission as soon as she woke up this morning, but she told me she will be too busy to take me (we’re having my cousins for the whole week). When I told her I could Floo on my own, she still said no without explanation. I was so cross with her! But now that I think of it, maybe she doesn’t want me to hang about alone in Diagon Alley. I’ll have to ask her about it.

I wish I was able to come and meet you, I hope we’ll have another chance soon! What is your Dad’s profession?

I’m glad you’re in the UK, though, I don’t trust the International Post Owl with your Christmas present. They are from Honeydukes, I’ve been told the brand doesn’t have a store in the US. I hope you’ll like them. Happy Christmas!!

I’m curious about the airplane. How was it like?

Yours,

PS : I’m sending Lucretia back to Seamus, because I don’t know where you’re staying… And something tells me you’re going to see him again!!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA

Friday, the 9th of January, 1997

Dear Shelly,

Happy new year!

Why am I not surprised about your finding Draco Malfoy attractive? You obviously have a thing for blondes, my dear! My sister has had a huge crush on him for years now. It’s always very funny to watch her when he’s around for family gatherings. I, for one, prefer my men a bit less… pointy.  
The girl with the cool earring is Luna Lovegood. They’re not radishes! Haven’t you ever seen a dirigible plum? Luna is a Ravenclaw and I like her, she’s really clever and adorable. But she’s a bit intimidating, you know? Some people say she’s eccentric, but I’m sure they say it about every one of us. I hope you won’t mind my asking, but are you attracted to girls? The way you talked about Luna made me think that. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.

You’re right about Professor Dumbledore’s hand, well spotted! We don’t know what it is, but the way he casually mentioned it at the start-of-term feast made it sound like it’s not a big deal. I have the personal conviction it’s a magical harm. Do you have a theory?

A pleonasm is when you say something that’s redundant. I think I recall saying it when I wrote “arrogant Gryffindor”. Well, a Gryffindor is by definition arrogant, so there’s no need for the adjective here, and that’s why it’s a pleonasm. It’s like saying “a gross elf” or “a greedy goblin”. Pleonasms are often used to either express a cliché, or emphasise something, like “enter into”. Maybe you call it something else?

Do you mean they read through my letters before sending them to the US Post Mail? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.

We used to use pigeons for mail back in the middle age, but we’ve discovered they stopped flying for the nights, and when the morning came, they just didn’t remember they had a task in talon. Owls are more trustable in this way. Some species are really resistant to cold and quite strong! As they are predators, they know how to not be seen by muggles, and the risk for them to be attacked is weak. You use geese for mail?? It must be horribly noticeable. Not to mention noisy!

Seamus gave me the books on the first day of term. You should’ve seen his face! He was even redder than Luna’s plums! You really ought to tell me what happened in his room. Spare me no detail!

Thank you so much!  
I haven’t had the time to read everything yet, of course, but I’ve finished Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, and I’m positively amazed. I had never heard of chromosomes and genome before. It seems as though people don’t want for us to know what we’re from. I mean, genetics is not a muggle thing. It’s not even a human thing, it’s a living being thing! It’s ridiculous. Every student should learn about it at school.

 

I think hereditary diseases and genetic anomaly (such as trisomy… fascinating) are things that don’t concern wizards, though. I’ve read in _One thousand diseases and How to heal them_ that wizards are immune against muggle diseases. But squibness could very well be a genetic condition, from what I’ve grasped and yes, I think you’re right. Crossing genes in Pureblood families probably doesn’t do any good. That could also explain the increasing infertility.

The spelldancing is fascinating. I am going to try it as soon as I finish learning the theory. It’s going to be tricky, considering the curfew is even earlier this term, and I surely want to be outside to try it.

I have no idea why your teachers say you don’t have the prerequisite learning to cast a Patronus, but if I may, I think they’re wrong. Casting a Patronus is about channelling energy into conjuring a personification of an emotion and if I’ve understood well, that’s exactly what the Spirit-Cat dance is about! You really should try it. Do you want me to send a copy of _From darkness to lightness : Seven steps to the Patronus?_

You’re going to be proud of me, I actually went to the cinema! Mother allowed me to go only if Daphne went with me. It took me several days (and all my remaining Bertie Bott’s from Christmas), but she agreed to take me. We went to see the film “Jude”. Have you seen it?

It was odd at first, but when I got used to the idea that people on the screen couldn’t watch us back, I relaxed. To be honest, I quite liked it. I wouldn’t go every three days, obviously, but maybe I’ll go again this summer.

Cheers,

P.S.: I realised I didn’t know when your birthday was! Please tell me I haven’t missed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BF: This is the first time we mention the international post, maybe it’s time we explain how it works.  
> At first, the Ravenclaw in me tried to rationalize so I’ve checked out American owls and their speed and endurance ratio. I calculated that an Eagle Owl would take something like four days to cross the ocean, and then I started to think about weather, tiredness, and right when I started to consider basic needs like food and how an owl (even a magical owl in a wizarding world, come on) couldn’t possibly survive to the journey, Drakey arrived with the solution.
> 
> D: The solution is actually pretty simple: the American Goose Post sends post geese to a processing center, and then sends them overseas by magic instead of by bird, where they're picked up by an owl.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: CUCUMBERS!

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Tuesday, January 21, 1997

Dear Astoria,  
I’ve already found a copy of that book, and you’ll never guess what I did!

Well, okay, so that sentence seemed ridiculous the moment I finished writing it, but anyways, I’ve managed to cast my very first patronus. The theory (I’m guessing you know why it’s very different from the cats if you’ve read the book by now) is pretty interesting, and I think I know why it works the way it does, but it’s yet to be corporeal. I’m very, very good at Transfigurations, but absolutely awful at a lot of charms. I can do the healing family of charms all right, but not most others.

Anyways, if that’s the Draco Malfoy, he might be hot, but I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole. You know his father gave an interview on that wizarding radio show here in the states last year all about how the “rabble-rousing” over ~~Voldemort~~ a Certain Individual Who Shall Remain Nameless was just because Harry Potter’s no-maj blood was making him a little crazy, and he had all sorts of stories about how “that little ruffian” hassled his son at school. If the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree-and it never does in big, insular magical families like that-then Draco Malfoy must be just as slimy as his dad. That much prejudice is never good for a society.

That said, I might have a bit of a thing for blonds. And yes, Luna is very attractive. I don’t usually go for girls (sorry dear, but you’re too young for me and not my type, not that I think you were particularly hoping), but I’ve had one girlfriend and a couple of crushes. I would absolutely ask her out. Maybe I could hear about the dirigible plums. I asked the head of the biology department about them, and she directed me to the gardener, who sent me to the janitor, of all people, and she has a little plot on the roof of building 7 where she grows dirigible plums, shrivelfig, wisping mushrooms, and something she calls a nawni bush, which is apparently invisible unless you’re dancing in circles around it. She made me a tea out of the plums and I spent the whole evening certain that I believed in string theory, but I don’t actually understand what they are any better.

They don’t actually read your letters. They only test them for harmful magic and no-maj devices before they send them along. And you’d be surprised how good geese are at carrying letters! They’re a pretty common sight most times here in the USA, and most magical communities are fairly concentrated, so the fact they travel in flocks actually helps camouflage them. A postal goose can join a wild flock for a while with her letter pouch on her back and nobody will know the difference on the ground. The noise can be a bit much if they get angry, but they’re very tough and they can fly for the huge distances we have here. Maggie, my goose, is really sweet-tempered. Maybe you can visit the states over the summer, get away from all the awful things happening in Britain.

As for genetics, I can send you Gerald Curie’s follow-up book, too. He actually talks about gobacks (I looked it up, and apparently they’re called squibs in Britain, New Zealand, _Guatamala, of all places_ , and New England and parts of Canada. I guess they get called no-sells in the Chicago area, which sounds pretty rude to me. You’ll find it very interesting, I’m sure.

Seamus… oh, where can I even start? Well, first off, your rumors were fairly close. Apparently, after Dean started dating Ginny Weeseley (I’m sure I’ve spelled that wrong, but I can’t find the letter where you wrote it down) Seamus told him he was head-over-heels for him, but now Dean was already with Ginny and Seamus had terrible timing. Anyways, Seamus was very happy to see me. I don’t think either of us really wants anything serious, especially with someone clear across the ocean, but we spent several very, very, _very_ pleasant hours together without any parental supervision. It turns out Seamus is a very cunning linguist, and has quite nimble fingers.

And he’s hung like a horse. Dean doesn’t know what he’s missing! I’ve seen smaller CUCUMBERS!

I’m so glad you got to see a movie! There are films of all of the fiction books I gave you. The Star Wars ones started out as films, actually. My dad loves those movies. So do I, but we argue about which one is the best all the time. Just… don’t watch Dune on a full stomach. Not everything the no-majes make is good. I looked to see if Jude was still playing anywhere when I got your letter, but it’s not.

My birthday is April the 24th. I know how expensive it is to send a big package overseas, though, so you don’t have to get me a gift. When’s your birthday? 

All my love to Seamus and Dean when you see them,


	10. Chapter 10

Shelly Fletcher  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education,  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA.

Saturday, the 2nd of February, 1997

Dear Shelly,

I’m so proud you’ve managed a patronus! Above all don’t give up, no one is able to cast a corporeal one on the first attempt. How is the animagi going? Have you made peace with your potential Animal Form?

I’ve tried the Spirit-Cat dance but I’m puzzled. How do you manage not to look  ridiculous when you dance magic? Because even though I’ve read _The Magic of the Dance by Amy Songheart_  three times before trying anything, the only thing I’ve managed was to catch a cold and make a fool of myself. The look on Ben’s face when he saw me dancing in the snow… I thought I was going to die from embarrassment.

Oh, by the way, Ben is the guy I like, now. I... like him a lot. He’s charming and funny, and he’s a prefect. Yesterday, he talked to me for about an hour! Can you believe this? He was asking for my help, as if a fifth year Ravenclaw could possibly not master the summoning charm. I think it was mostly a pretext to talk to me… But I might be imagining things… What do you think?

You’re actually the first person I tell this. I tried to tell Clare (she’s my best friend, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned her before), but she didn’t listen. She’s like that, sometimes she doesn’t listen to me, but it’s okay. She was busy, I’ll try again later. And there’s absolutely no way I’m telling this to Daphne, because I know she would tell the parents right away, and… I have a feeling they wouldn’t approve of him.

What you say about Lucius Malfoy, well… I understand your point of vue, of course, but, come on, there is truth behind his words. Certainly, he’s showing off a bit (but, hey, Malfoy Family practically own the Ministry, so who can blame him?), but He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been teased by Harry Potter several times through the years. And Potter is harassing Draco at school. Gee, you should see the dirty looks he shoots him through the hall.

Why, I’ve been told I’m quite good-looking, I’m very disappointed not to be of your taste! Joking aside, I’m not interested in girls so, no offence taken.

I’ve asked Luna about dirigible plums for you. So they’re fruits of the genus Prunus. Believe it or not, they actually grow on a tree, so we’re really far from radishes as you can see! They have a bunch of magical properties, and I don’t quite remember all of them but mostly, they’re good for intellectual awareness. That’s why Luna is wearing them near her head. She told me her mum used to brew her an energised syrup from it when she was little and she is really clever now, so it must do good for intellect, indeed. She also told me not to ever heat the plums up otherwise it has the opposite effects. So I think whatever theory you believed in was completely rubbish, sorry! (Seriously, though, string theory? Anything to do with the fancy pants my sister wears?)

So you’re telling me I’m not allowed to send you a birthday gift, but you don’t mind goosing (is it a word? “owling” definitely is) a book overseas? It’s positively unfair, honey!

Anyway, don’t bother sending Gerald Curie’s second book, I’ve asked Madame Pince (she’s our librarian) to order it for me as soon as I’ve finished the first one. We should receive it soon now. I can’t wait! Thanks again for the books. I haven’t read Dune yet (somehow, I’m having trouble starting it), but I’m halfway through _The Empire strikes back,_ and I love it! I had never read something like it, it’s amazing. I very especially like Yoda. That’s weird, because his description makes me think of an elf (at least, an intelligent one), but whatever. Please don’t tell me what happens, but I’m sure Vader is in fact Luke who has returned from the future (Surely they have something like a Time-Turner, right?) And I’m strangely convinced Han and Luke are in fact secretly in love and Leïa is going to have a heartbreak very soon. I hope I’ll be able to see the films this summer.

My own birthday is the 23rd of August, I am the youngest of my year.

I’ve passed your love to Seamus and Dean, as requested, and guess what Dean did! He invited me to watch Hufflepuff/Slytherin with them both! It was awkward to stand in the Gryffindor stand, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Dean and Seamus introduced me to a game they’ve invented which consists of saying what the players -supposedly- think in silly voices. It’s sidesplitting. They’re in fact pretty cool, you were totally right.

Although, what you told me about Seamus… I couldn’t quite look him in the eye during the whole match. He does have a huge bump in his trousers.

I can’t believe you’ve slept with him the very first time you saw him! Was it your first time? Now that I’ve written it, I can see that it is a stupid question. You are American, after all. Not to mention gorgeous! You surely had sex plenty of times already.

I’d love to come and visit the USA during the summer. What you told me really tickles my curiosity. I’ll submit the idea to Mother and Father during Easter break. It  is my turn to choose the vacation destination, after all!

Cheers,

 

 

PS : Your owl arrived long after breakfast, this time. Do you always tick “morning delivery” on the Posting Order for International and National Transportation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As-tor-i-a has a crush-uh ♪
> 
> The spelldancing is part of why I love working on this. This is amazing, so many possibilities!


	11. Chapter 11

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Monday, February 11, 1997

Dear Astoria,

I can’t believe it! I was rereading your letter from the 9th of January, and I forgot to tell you about my father! He’s a security consultant. The Ministry of Magic had asked MACUSA to send a few experts, and they called him in. He’s where I get my transfigurations talents. We like to joke that I got my charms talent from my great uncle Larry (he’s a goback).

A few people have decided they didn’t want to talk to me anymore because they think I’m a “slut,” so I promise you, it’s not an American thing. Is Britain really that repressed? Seamus certainly didn’t seem repressed, but boys tend not to be too repressed when you get their pants off. If you ask me, it’s better to lose your virginity early and not be surprised on your wedding night. My first time was actually the year before last. I had to stay at Rainpath over the Christmas break because my father was working in Belgium on something to do with their trying to set up a national school of magic and Mom was in the hospital with rolling arthritis. There was a party in the main Fedora building, and a bunch of the Flatcaps snuck in and we livened it up with a whole bottle of Griselda Gripling’s Grand Olde in the eggnog. I dragged off a boy named Liam I’d had my eye on for a while, and we… weren’t there when Doctor Macduff came in and everyone got in trouble for drinking.

Maybe you should try to fool around with Ben a little. Nothing you’re really uncomfortable with, but you’d be surprised how much you can be comfortable with.

I haven’t made much progress with the patronus since I told you about it.  There was a sort of lumpy shape in it one time, but you just don’t get much use out of patronuses in the Americas. There are no known dementors anywhere on this side of the Atlantic, and lethifolds have been hunted to extinction here outside of that one zoo in Mobile, Alabama.

As far as your problem goes…. You know how it feels when you cast a shield charm? That hard edge of sensation down your arms, like you’ve run a length of wire from thumb to thumb? You need to use that feeling as a sort of partner in the dance. But maybe you should try dancing with a physical partner first. Find someone you trust-and I mean someone you _really, really trust_ -and have them play the earth-role in a rain dance. Follow the instructions in the book, and you should only get a few clouds out of it, although you could soak the school grounds if you _really want to_. There was one time when my best friend Samuel and I did a rain dance on top of  Building 3 because we wanted to flood out Mrs. Rathburn’s garden. It worked.

I don’t know about seeing both sides of the Malfoy thing. The Malfoys could certainly handle things a lot better than to say Harry Potter is crazy! After all, they’re the fifth wealthiest family in the entire wizarding community, and the eighteenth wealthiest in the world in general, and they’re pursuing a feud with an orphan. Usually, that sort of thing happens in the first act of a film, and in the third act, a lovable animal defeats the wealthy people.

Oh my god! I got the strangest letter from Luna Lovegood. I guess Dean gave her my address. She sent me a seed packet for dirigible plums, and she wrote in ink that I could sort of hear a little. She said she was glad I liked the plums and she hopes I’ll get a lot of use out of them, and then she told me that they keep away nargles. I don’t even know what a nargle is! Anyways, there was a picture with it, too, but it was just an open field with nothing in it but a chicken coop. I honestly don’t know what to make of it. She wanted me to send her a seed packet back “for our seed exchange.” But I never agreed to a seed exchange. I’ll send her a cutting of angelwing.

I wouldn’t worry too much about string theory. That’s advanced theoretical physics. I watch a lot of science documentaries, so I get a lot of very odd concepts.

I’ll talk to my father about having you come out over the summer. I’m sure he can make arrangements, somehow.

As for Ben… whatever you do, don’t take it too slow. I’ve regretted not kissing more people than I’ve regretted kissing. Why don’t you tell me more about him? If you have a picture of the two of you, I’d love to see it. I hope I’m not being indelicate, but… would your parents not approve because Ben isn’t a pureblood?

Love,

P.S. I don’t tick anything for delivery time. Would you like me to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: It amuses me how much Shelly loves to talk about sex. The first iteration of the character that I ever wrote had been very close with a boy who had James Bond levels of sex drive, so she just kinda got used to talking about sex like it was the weather.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: I really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, but it treats being scientific and curious like a superpower. I think the science-minded and curious would have lives more like Shelly's than anything else. It's better to assume that magic is wibbly and science-confusing than that over the last couple of millenia, the only people to be simultaneously aware of magic and the scientific method were Sir Francis Bacon and Harry "Indignant Author Avatar" Potter.

Shelly Fletcher  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA

Saturday, the 21st of February, 1997

Dear Shelly,

Ben is my boyfriend. (I intended to finished with this bit of information, but I’m way too excited, and you’ve probably already seen the picture, anyway) He asked me out to Hogsmeade on the 14th. He’s so romantic!  
We went to Madam Puddifoot, it’s a lovely place where every couple goes on Hogsmeade dates. It was crowded, as you might expect it to be on the day after Valentine’s day, but we found a secluded enough corner and he held my hand through the whole date. He bought me a hot chocolate and a cherry scone, and I was so stressed the only thing I was able to think of was “is he going to taste the weird chocolate/cherry mix if he kisses me on the lips?”  
Turned out he was, as he told me after, but, I quote, in a very pleasant way.  
We’ve decided to go out again on the next Hogsmeade trip. I can’t wait!  
He kissed me a few times after that in the common room, and that’s… I have no words to describe how he makes me feel. I don’t know why I haven’t tried kissing anyone before.

Although, I don’t plan on “fooling around” with him anytime soon, thank you very much. It’s not such a British repression thing, there are quite a few students who do more than just snogging at Hogwarts, even if I imagine American students are even more randy. It’s not that it lacks its appeal, I don’t know, I just want to keep myself for The One, you know? Maybe Ben will be that person, maybe not (probably not, come to think of it...). You’re right, the reason why my parents wouldn’t approve of him is because he’s a half-blood. But you know what? I think I don’t care. He’s clever and handsome and even they wouldn’t care either if they had tried kissing him. It’s not as if they were to hear about it anyway.

Ben agreed to help me with the Dance when his mock OWLs are over. He was very interested in Native American Magic, so I lent him Fox Walters’ book, I hope you don’t mind.  
I’ve been practicing a bit on the Spirit-Cat, and I think I can feel what you describe. I know I do well with the gathering bit, because I can see the cats when I close my eyes now, but the projection part is still unsuccessful. For now. I’m not giving up!

There are quite a few Dementors here. Well, not _here_ , here, but in the UK anyway. People say they’re breeding, some of them say it’s He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s work, but Dementors do work for the Ministry, so no doubt the Ministry is raising a Dementor army, and if you want my opinion, it’s absolutely idiotic.  
So you’re saying you’ve never crossed path with a Dementor? You’re lucky… I met my first on my very first trip to Hogwarts. Dementors had stopped the Express and entered the compartments. That turned what should have been the happiest moment of my life into the scariest and the saddest. (I still don’t know how I managed to walk and sit on the sorting stool that night)  
After that, I saw a few others, during that year and also again this summer, when we were visiting my Auntie in Yorkshire. My Mom made that one go away with her squirrel.  
What are lethifolds?

On another subject, Dean and Seamus invited me to join them at the Gryffindor table the other night. Of course I refused because why would I?! So I told them they should come to the Ravenclaw table if they so much wanted to eat with me and guess what? They did! For a moment, people were looking at us weirdly, but they got tired quickly enough, and all in all, we had a very pleasant meal. Maybe I’ll go to the Gryffindor table in return some day. I think we tend to force people into boxes here, and I’m not sure I like it all that much. If I want to eat with my Gryffindorks, I have the right to, no? (Please don’t repeat I’ve called them that.)

Nargles are invisible creatures that are known to be mischievous thieves. A lot of people don’t believe in them on the pretext that they are invisible, but that’s silly, right? As if everything was tangible. As for the picture… I’m going to ask Luna.  
So I’m back, Luna told me the picture was a way to show you how effective her dirigible plums are, because as you can see, there are no nargles around the coop. And I’ll let you know nargles adore chickens! She also told me you needed the seed exchange just as much as she wanted it and you wanted it probably more than she needed it. Does that ring any bell?

I’ve received Curie’s second book! I’ve devoured it in less time than necessary to say “genetic predisposition”, and it’s brilliant. The examples he gives on magic flaws through generations of pureblood families are enlightening. The section about aggravating factors to squibness is amazing. (Yes, squib. I’m speaking the Guatemala tongue, and I live with it! Hehe)  
Did you know Gerald Curie had muggle relatives who were scientists? They worked on something called radioactivity and, if I got it right, it’s something really dangerous that can make the body work wrong after too much exposure. Do you think it would be possible for it to have sparked magic in their great-grandson’s veins?

As for the owl, that’s actually kind of strange. At Hogwarts, we always receive the mail during breakfast, and all of your letters have arrived during the normal hour so far, but the last two arrived later. The last one was even a bit tousled (as if he had flown a long distance in a short time, maybe?). I’m pretty sure the National Post sends owls to Hogwarts during the normal hours by default anyway, but yes, please, I’d like you to tick “Morning Delivery” next time, just to see if it changes something.

Cheers,

PS : How is your Animagus going?


	13. Chapter 13

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Monday, March 4, 1997  
 **OFFICE OF THE OWL POST, LONDON  
MORNING DELIVERY REQUESTED**

Dear Astoria,  
It sounds like you sent your letter a day too early! I received a hilarious letter from Seamus that one of his roommates drank a fermented love potion by accident, dated the day after your letter. I guess the boy in question hangs out with Harry Potter a lot? Anyway, from what I hear, he had to spend the night in the infirmary because he was obsessively in love with someone named Romilda? It wouldn’t be as funny, except that apparently the boy who drank the potion is sometimes kind of a huge asshole. 

To be perfectly honest, I don’t like the idea of love potions for the most part. In seventh grade, they had us take a sex education class (you know, all that “our bodies, ourselves” nonsense with all the “your period is a beautiful sign of flowering womanhood so please don’t have one-sided screaming matches with your uterus, no matter how bad the cramps are” and the SUPER EMBARRASSING “hair in new places” speeches) and they talked about how we girls have to be careful and make sure we never ever get drunk unless we’re locked in a vault at Fort Knox because if we’re intoxicated, boys will trick us into sex. Anyways, there was this big argument about whether you can give consent under the effects of a love potion, and most of us thought no, and then there was another argument over whether boys ever brew love potions to give to girls, which of course they do, but nobody talks about it. Long story short, I decided that actually using a love potion is really shady at best, and probably sexual assault, and if the person you gave it to actually does anything with you, a lot of times you can get charged with felony mind control and felony sexual misconduct. Last year, Phineas Deacon and Louise Krause were expelled just for having a love potion on them.

Flavored kisses are lots of fun. My ex-girlfriend Persephone loved to have me eat ice cream before I kissed her. It was pretty cute. You should try different flavors. I bet he’ll like it. Just don’t do anything spicy.

I looked up Madam Pudifoot’s. It turns out she sells specialty teas in the Fort Worth, Chicago, DC, San Francisco, and Alberta Magimerica Wizarding Grocer locations. I sent a letter to my dad about it, and he sent me a box of Pudifoots Rosehips Delight and Pudifoots Earl Fuchsia. I’ve never had Earl Fuchsia before, but the way it makes you float off your chair is really entertaining. I kept drinking the tea and pushed myself down the halls, floating about three inches off the floor until Miss Deerborn yelled at me. She’s kind of a huge spoilsport, though, so it’s okay.

Waiting for The One is pretty cool, too. I used to think I was going to do that, but I’m too much of a free spirit and I don’t have that kind of impulse control, so I just make sure I have safe sex. I recently found a book on one of the advanced reading order lists called “The Ethical Slut” and ordered it, so I guess that pretty much tells you my policy. I think the important thing is to be sure that you’re okay with you.

Be careful with the dance! Sometimes it can get a little intense if you do it in weather that’s too dry or too wet. It’s good you’re making progress with the spirit cats. You should be a couple of weeks away from getting it!

I finally got a corporeal patronus! It happened just yesterday! It’s a bluejay! I showed it to my teachers, and they were all very impressed! I was kind of hoping for an eagle or something, or maybe some kind of snake, but a bluejay is still very cool. I’m going to start brewing the potions next week and casting the charms.

I’ve only ever seen drawings of a dementor, and one of the teachers here knows a spell that mimics the effects of a dementor, but he’s not allowed to cast it on school grounds. Apparently MACUSA has a whole squad of control people that keep dementors out of the US. They’re supposed to be pretty fanatical about it. They keep out dementors, dragons, gnomes, and kneazles for some reason. There’s a Chinese fireball in the Magical Zoo in Central Park in New York city. I saw her once, but she looked very sad. 

A lethifold is a very rare creature that usually lives in jungles. It envelops its prey completely and leaves no trace, and it’s big enough to eat a human. You can repel them with a patronus. There’s never been anyone who attacked one with spirit cats, but a lot of theories say you could chase it off with them, too. I used to have nightmares about being eaten by a lethifold, until my aunt got me a sleeping bag that was shaped like one with big, ridiculous eyes.

It’s very cool that you’re eating with the Gryffindors! I always think it’s good to promote bonds like that. Maybe you’ll start a trend!

Speaking of trends, I think I may have accidentally started one here. There’s this thing the no-majes have been doing with computers called “online” and I wanted to find out more, so I talked to the principal, and now there’s all sorts of people talking about getting a computer lab put in somewhere. The staff are saying it would be very hard to isolate it from the magical energies in the area, and they don’t know if they can, but I think it sounds very cool.

I got Luna’s explanation along with a very apologetic note from the MACUSA explaining that they had to confiscate a snargaluff pod from her letter just this morning. I don’t know what she was thinking sending me one of those, but I find myself rather liking her. She’s zany, but pleasantly so.

By now, you’ve probably gotten far enough into Gerald Curie’s second book to have seen his theories on whether or not his magic comes from radioactive exposure in his ancestors. The short answer is that he did some genealogy and he thinks his great great great great great grandfather was probably a wizard, because it’s not likely for a random mutation to cause magic rather than, for example, a clubfoot. He does speculate a lot about whether magic or lack of magic is the mutation, which is pretty cool. There’s a few blood purist essays out there about how Gerald Curie is the most dangerous person in the magical community in the last hundred years. I guess he got attacked by some people after the first time A Certain Criminal Who Shall Not Here Be Named vanished. the newspaper article is pretty funny. I dug it up and made a copy, and I’m sending that along with this letter.

Anyways, I have classes to get to, so I’ll send this along and look forward to your next letter.

Love and hugs,

P.S. Let me know how the owl does this time!


	14. Chapter 14

Shelly Fletcher  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA

Monday, the 14th of March, 1997

Dear Shelly,

You seem better informed on Hogwart’s gossip than I am! I didn’t know about Weasley (In case you’re wondering, yes it’s the same name as Dean’s girlfriend. Should I say future-ex-girlfriend? They’re not doing very well, according to Seamus. And, you’re right, Ron Weasley is quite an arse. He spends his time bullying firsties. And to think that he’s a prefect!) but I made my own enquiries, because a love potion isn’t reason enough to spend a week (not a night, an entire week!) at the infirmary. So apparently the bloke was fine - as fine as you can be, under a strong and possibly fermented love potion, I mean - until he went and drank an antidote at Slughorn’s office. And who was there with him? I’ll give you three guesses. Harry Potter. Always getting into trouble, that one. And you know what idiotic rumour they’ve been spreading through the school? That Slughorn poisoned him. Even - and we’re getting very ridiculous here - that someone has hexed Slughorn into poisoning him. Those attention-seeker Gryffindors really don’t know what to invent anymore.

Concerning love potions, I must admit I hadn’t seen it that way before, and your letter (as always, I might add) has given me much to think about. You’re totally right, of course. In fact, I talked to the nurse and she agreed to add a section about love potions and consent in her sex ed curriculum. Dean volunteered to paint safety posters. You should see them, they’re fabulous. Did you know he was good with a brush?  
After a few days of reflection, I also decided to owl Weasley (yep, them again.) Wizard Wheezes, because they are selling love potions to students. Even though they say it only lasts one hour and is only used for pranking, I think it’s dangerous and should be illegal. We’ll see if they answer.

I love Earl fuchsia! Madam Puddifoot only sells them for takeout, though, I think you can guess why. My favourite one is Wizarding Breakfast, you should try it if you have the occasion. ~~It makes yo~~ No spoil, you’ll see.

Now I get what you say about “being okay with yourself”. I know I have a tendency to judge people, and that’s something I’m trying to change. It’s no excuse, but I’ve been used to watching everyone do it my entire life. Putting people into boxes. I haven’t thought about it much before but I don’t like it, and I surely don’t want to be put into a box. Enjoying your youth as you have every right to doesn’t make you a slut and I’m not a prude for wanting to wait.  
Ben is totally understanding by the way, and we’re taking things slow.  
On the other hand... I’m having very disturbing/interesting dreams about him (Oh my God, I don’t know why I’m telling you this, this is so embarrassing) which I was totally unprepared for and sometimes I don’t really see the point in waiting any more, you know? He says he really really likes me and he’s even invited me to spend a few days at his house for the summer. (In four months! He wants to stay with me for yet another four months at least!) And I’ll tell you what, I don’t find the idea appalling at all. I still don’t know if I’m going to accept, and if I do, I don’t know how to break it to my parents, but I kind of really want to accept.

Speaking of Ben, we’ve been working a lot on the Spirit Cat since he’s finished his mock OWL and we’re both able to conjure the cats! His cats are better shaped and brighter than mine (which are oddly translucent), but I’ve finally managed! I’m so glad, you have no idea. Well, maybe you have, now that I think of it. Congratulations on your Patronus! A bluejay is a cool patronus, and imagine you transforming into a bird, it would be so cool! You’ll be able to fly without the use of a broom!  
I still haven’t managed much with the Dance, and what you’re telling me is quite frightening, Dear. You do know that “too wet” is practically the definition of Scottish weather, right?

It’s not really surprising the MACUSA is regulating the kneazles (I’m assuming you were talking about the kneazles, here, because I’m quite sure you’ll agree that gnomes are horrible creatures). Did you know that we have an overpopulation of kneazles in Great Britain? They’re breeding like doxies and it’s getting very hard to hide them from muggles. Of course, most of them take the kneazles for exceptionally clever cats, but there have been a few accidents anyway. I’m pretty sure there is a squad among the Obliviators that only deals with kneazle incidents. I’ve heard that some people at the Ministry are talking about massive sterilisation. In my opinion it wouldn’t be a bad thing, as long as it’s done correctly. Obviously, the magizooligists league is fighting against it. I don’t know why, though, because clearly a bit of regulation would be a very good thing for the kneazles’ sake.

Of course the dragon you’ve seen is probably sad. The Chinese Fireball is the most sociable kind of dragon. She shouldn’t be alone in a zoo. She shouldn’t even be in a zoo, poor thing.

Muggle technologies usually don’t work in highly magical areas, such as Hogwarts and I guess every witchcraft school. It would be interesting if your teachers were able to isolate a room from magical influence! Speaking of, where does your Film Appreciation class take place? I’ve thought to ask a couple of times and it slipped my mind each time.  
What is this “online” thingy? Does it have anything to do with films?

I’ve finished Dune, by the way! I liked it well enough, but I much prefered Star Wars which I find more believable for once, and more entertaining.

How Slytherin of Gerald Curie to lure his attackers that way! I’m quite sceptical about him being the most dangerous wizard for the last century, though. He-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless (I quite like the sound of it) certainly is more powerful than him, not to mention Dumbledore and Grindelwald. And honestly? They should meet McGonagall some day.

Alright, you’ve opened a breach with your “who’s the mutation of whom” questioning. In order to solve the equation, I made the hypothesis that magic is a gene that can be expressed or not. But somewhere, drawing my probabilities trees, I had something like an epiphany, and I totally forgot the point. If I ever had the courage to ever draw it, the tenth line of my genealogical tree would contain 1024 people. One thousand and twenty four people! They weren’t that many Purebloods in Wizarding Great Britain back then! Better, the 30th line would contain over one billion people. There weren’t enough people in the whole world back then (it was around Hogwarts’ foundation). And I’m not talking about wizards, I’m talking about human beings. That, my Dear, means a lot of things my parents will be thrilled to hear.  
First, there is a lot of consanguinity in every bloodline, but that’s not something very new among the Purebloods families. Second, a lot of our ancestors were probably not Purebloods. Third, a lot of our ancestors were probably not even wizards. And to finish, seeing that our 30th generation backwards was basically the entire European population, we share our entire bloodline with… Every muggle! How funny is that!  
You and I are practically siblings at this stage.

This owl didn’t do better than the previous. She arrived late (but I noticed a lot of owls arrive at improbable hours lately), and her wings were all ruffled. I had to bring her to our professor of care for magical creatures to help her get better.  
I have an intuition about what might cause the owl problems. It will need a little investigation on my end. I’ll tell you about it.

Love,


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: the chronology of this chapter is a little weird. If you pay attention to the dates compared to the previous chapter, though, it makes a little more sense.

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Monday, April 28, 1997

Dear Astoria,  
MACUSA has just announced that they’re closing the border with Great Britain! It was in the newspaper this morning. Because of the crisis with ~~Voldemort~~ You Know Who, people from Great Britain, France, all the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Belgium, and for some reason _Peru_ aren’t allowed into the United States anymore. It makes sense in a way, because there was that Death Eater attack in New York, and the other one in Kansas (who attacks Kansas? The only place that has more nothing in it than Kansas is Montana!), but it’s still pretty terrible. There’s all sorts of debate on whether or not they’ll continue the ban, but for now, we’re warned not to go to Britain unless we’re okay with staying there until MACUSA “has ascertained the crisis has passed in a satisfactory manner.”

Anyway, it kinda drives home how much danger you must be in. I know you’re a pureblood, so you should be safe, but on the other hand, here you are talking with me about no-maj science and how blood-purity is probably nonsense, and there are all sorts of scary rumors. Dean and Seamus are both saying that Harry Potter is supposed to be the only hope or something, and from what you’re telling me, he’s a total loser.

Please stay safe, Astoria!

By the way, your reply hasn’t arrived yet. Probably the new security measures. Don’t reply to this letter. I’ll write my reply to your next as soon as I get it.

Love and concern,

 

 

 

 

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Friday, April 4, 1997

Dear Astoria,  
Your letter still hasn’t arrived, but I just got Seamus’ latest. I wanted to ask you to make sure you’re extra-kind to Dean. it sounds like he’s having trouble with his girlfriend, and Seamus might be a little distracted with me.

Love,

 

 

 

 

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Monday, April 7, 1997

Dear Astoria,  
Your letter FINALLY arrived today! It was charred around the edges, and there were several dozen holes poked through it. I think your owl must have had a hell of fight with something, and probably not anything nice. There was even a little stain that looked like blood. Did your owl come back okay?

In the last three weeks, I’ve felt much less up-to-date on Hogwarts gossip, and very worried about everyone there. Poor Dean wrote me almost a dozen letters, but they’ve been arriving so long after he sent them that I can’t give him advice because it’s just too late, and Seamus has sent me plenty of photographs (apparently he’s had a brief affair with someone who likes to take pictures? Who would that be? Seamus didn’t mention the name, because he says it didn’t work out, and the pictures reminded him of Dean’s drawings), but the latest news I have is a letter dated four days after the last one you sent.

Your stories are getting muddled about the potions! Seamus says that the reason Ron Weasley got poisoned is because he drank a poisoned bottle that someone was going to use to try to kill your potions teacher. Of course, Luna says that Weasley must have had a severe run-in with nargles. But she admits that probably they were trying to go after the teacher. Either way, there shouldn’t be poisons anywhere in that school. And I’ve done a bit of research. Any poison that requires more than four days of bedrest to recover from has tsetse saliva, boomslang eyes, or cockatrice fangs in it, and is so deadly that only immediate use of a bezoar can save the victim long enough for an antidote to be brewed.

It’s cool that you’re taking an active role and talking to business people about big ethical issues. Just remember not to get carried away. Everyone I’ve talked to over there who was there for it has horror stories about someone named Hermilly (or something) starting up a club a couple of years ago to harass people about house-elves. Apparently she was so pushy and tactless about it that she just succeeded in making everyone really angry. Of course, Dean and Seamus aren’t always the most sensitive people, so that might be a little skewed. I mean, if they were more sensitive, they’d be dating each other, instead of photographers and girls.

I’m so sorry this letter is probably arriving too late to be helpful on this, but my advice for you with Ben is to talk to him about sex! Ask if he wants to have sex with you if you go to his house over the summer! Ask if he’s okay with waiting. If he is, that’s a lot of points in his favor. My friend Kayla says that she wouldn’t ever have had sex with her boyfriend, except that he was so respectful of what she wanted that she felt safe doing it with him. The more you communicate, the better things will be. I didn’t really talk to Liam before I had sex with him, and it was better than just using my hand, but it was also very awkward and clumsy and we spent, like, ten minutes before I took my shirt off obviously wanting to do more than make out but not being brave enough to go past it in case the other one didn’t want it. Andrew is the only one who ever talked about it with me, and sex with him was always so much better than with anyone else.

Did you try the Rain Dance? I didn’t mean to scare you, just to warn you that it can be a little overwhelming sometimes. I’m so excited to hear you got the cats! But I’m afraid I also had it spoiled for me a little: Seamus’ little thing with photographer-boy included a picture of you and Ben practicing the dance. He’s extremely cute, and has a very nice butt in those blue jeans. Translucent cats are a little unusual, but I looked it up, and you can fix it by eating a lot of potatoes. It’s actually a sign that you have too many airy humors, and the potatoes balance that with earthy humors. Eat three potatoes a day for two weeks, and the problem should go away unless you start eating a lot of things that can make you hover.

I actually sort of like gnomes. You can teach them to swear, and you can get them to sing in a choir if you’re patient enough. Of course, that’s the Common Prairie Gnome, and what you have in Britain is the Morgana’s Lesser Gnome, which is this ugly, warty thing that’s apparently much meaner. I was mostly talking about kneazles, though. Actually, the problem of kneazles has been partially solved by some creative editing of certain key books and memories. A lot of people see a kneazle and identify it as something called a Maine Coon, which is apparently an unusually large (totally gigantic) breed of cat, but perfectly ordinary and not magical at all. I’m not sure whether the breed really exists or not, but I guess there are quite a few no-majes who have kneazles and think nothing of it. I can certainly see the problem with overpopulation, though. The magizoologists are crazy. Mass sterilization would be a great idea.

Our film appreciation teacher gets old film reels that were played at theaters and uses magic to make a projector play the film. It’s actually a pretty impressive spell. She tried to make a computer work the same way, though, and there was a loud noise and a fire, so nothing so far. Dr. Macduff says the computer lab is probably not happening, but he can authorize field trips to a no-maj library that has online for people who want to try it out, although we have to go in groups of ten or fewer so we don’t blow up the computers.

Online doesn’t have anything to do with films. It’s actually this way that computers have of talking to each other, and since you can put pictures and things into a computer, you can use that to send them much, much, much faster than wizarding post. I could send you a picture and a letter with online and you would get it in just a few minutes.

Dune is definitely a little harder to get into than Star Wars. I’m sending a few of my old Star Wars comics with this letter. I’ll happily eat the cost of the extra postage so you can enjoy them.

I think the reason they’re saying he’s so dangerous is his ideology. He has real, honest, _good_ reasons why purebloods are no better or worse than magbobs or no-majes, and the purists can’t tolerate that. It’s a threat to their power, so they’re talking like he’s a threat to everyone, as though his ideas will hurt people. The no-majes do that a lot. They label ideas as dangerous, and they say that the people who promote those ideas are dangerous.

It makes sense, if you think about it. Hitler had a philosophy, and when he got enough people to listen to him (and support from Grindelwald) he killed 12,000,000 people. He was dangerous because of his ideology and his ability to enforce it.

The problem with calling Gerald Curie “dangerous” is that his ideology isn’t “everyone should give no-majes and magbobs equal treatment,” it’s “we should look for the truth in ways that are proven to work.” The thing that the purists are angry and scared about is that actually doing that is showing that the ideology they hold, that’s been at partly or mostly accepted in the Western wizarding world for two centuries is totally wrong.

That’s part of why I’m scared for you. What if the purists are reading our letters? They know what you’re starting to think, now. Especially your little genealogy project. That’s a dangerous thing to be saying in Britain these days. They might go after you. Please be careful, Astoria.

Love,

P.S. I just tried some of that tea you recommended. Never again. My thumbs are still making that horrible whistling noise.

P.P.S. I gave your letter to a few people who have experience with investigating things like that. Mister Gimble says it was definitely some kind of bird blood on the parchment, but it had been too long to tell what kind, and maybe the goose that delivered it just had a fight with another goose, since that happens more often than you’d think. Mrs. Skendles says the burn was definitely spell damage, and my dad says it was a ranged spell. No word on the holes, since the parchment was pretty messed up by the time I got it to them to look at.


	16. Chapter 16

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA

Friday, the 9th of April, 1997

Dear Shelly,

I just got your letter from the 14th. I’m sending this right away, in the hope you’ll receive it in time for your birthday.

♥ HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR SHELLY ♥

Enclosed you’ll find your present. I did the best I could, considering everything. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it at first, it’s actually a puzzle you have to solve. I hope you’ll like it. Seamus has assured me it should _blow_ your mind.

Lots of love and my best wishes for your birthday,

 

 

 

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA

Sunday, the 19th of April, 1997

My Dear Shelly,

First of all, thank you so much for the comics! You have no idea how happy I was when I received them. I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but I needed Dean’s help to figure out how to actually read them. I’ve just finished the first one for now on, but I’m already in love with Sylvar. She really is an interesting character, and I’ll have to admit, there was a time I thought she was going to fall to the dark side of the force. Or fall for Ulic Qel-Droma, pick your guess. Obviously I was wrong.  
_Intended for the people from the MACUSA : these are not code names, please do not destroy this letter. These are names of fictional characters from no-maj comic books called Star Wars : Tales of the Jedi._  
Speaking of, I don’t know what happened to my last owl, it was an owl from the school, so I wasn’t able to find out if it was fine. I looked for wounds on every owl in the owlery after your letter, and I hadn’t found anything worth worrying, plus I know Hagrid is taking care of them. I hope the one I sent is feeling better now. The Ministry probably doesn’t look over the letters I send you, but they may be searching for curses and keywords. Anyhow, I know for sure they read the letters _you_ send _meslut girl will help him realise his true love for Seamus, so the last step will hopefully be to get together with Seamus. I know you’re with me on this._  
So that was what the Colin Creevey episode was about! You know, Seamus avoided telling us what was going on with him, but Colin did spend a couple of weeks stuck to his gloves. Colin is a ~~mugg~~ Gryffindor; he isn’t as popular as the boys, but he’s the one in charge of the official pictures for the quidditch tournament.

I had to know about the poison thing so...

*Point your wand here*

 

I offered my palm to the hippogriff and talked to Harry Potter.  
(Please take the time to appreciate the effort)  
So, for your information, Harry Potter is not especially a nice person. I asked him what happened in Slughorn’s office, and let me tell you I was prepared to hear a lot of rubbish putting him in a good light, but he actually didn’t make a fuss about it. He almost rudely told me that someone spiked Slughorn’s wine with poison, that he didn’t think either his friend nor Slughorn were actually the target, that he had no clue who the real target was, that Slughorn saved his friend by force-feeding him a bezoar (you were right!), that everyone was fine, thank you very much and finally that he wished people would leave him the fuck (!!) alone. He delivered all of this in a offputting weary tone -as if it was a way to speak to people!- looking as though he was reciting some ingredients list for a _very boring potion_.

I honestly don’t know what to think of this interaction. I have the feeling he told me the truth, although there is something wrong about it, but I can’t put my finger on it.

By the way, I’ve received an answer from the Weasley brothers about the love potion. They told me the attack on their brother had cooled them down on those and the documentation I sent has managed to convince them. They have removed the love potion from their catalogue. Hooray!

I talked about sex with Ben. It amazes me how easy it is to talk to him actually, about everything. You know, I think I am in love with him. I want to tell him, but I can’t find the courage. I don’t know what scares me, because I know he wouldn’t make fun of me, I don’t know. Sometimes, when he looks at me, I have the impression he shares my feelings, but maybe I just see what I want to see.  
I told my parents about him during Easter break. They’re not pleased at the idea of me seeing someone, and I even “omitted” his blood status. I know what they expect from me, but shouldn’t parents be happy for their child? I’m going to stop here because otherwise I would say things I will regret.

I went to see Madam Pomfrey and I told her about the humors, and she confirmed your diagnoses, well done! Although, she said the potatoes diet was outdated, and she gave me a potion. I’ve never been a big fan of potatoes, anyway.

Now my cats are very defined and bright, thanks to you! They look like long-haired siamese, they are so cute! I’ve decided to call them Flourish and Blotts, but I can’t quite tell them apart yet.  
The third step of Dean’s recovery was in fact to do an outside activity, so we tried to rain Dance together, the four of us. Believe it or not, we were joined by no less than twelve fellow students. And… (please drum roll again↑)  
BEN AND I SUCCEEDED!  
Well, we only managed a little drizzle, and people said that didn’t count seeing that it’s the default weather here (they are not wrong, mind you), but I know we made it. How would you explain it stopped right when we passed Hogwarts’ gate if it weren’t for our greatness, anyhow?

By the way, Katie Bell, the girl who was attacked by the necklace in October, came back. She says she doesn’t remember anything, so I’m quite certain it was just an accident.

Online seems fascinating. Can computers talk to each other from one continent to another?  
I am sure you know what I’m flying at, here. I want to find a way to send each other letters without harming the owls ~~, nor putting people in da~~

I totally agree with you about Gerald Curie. But, if you don’t mind, I’m not comfortable talking blood purity and muggle science through letters anymore. ~~It’s just The owl~~    ~~With the Ministry~~  
I’m sure I’m safe here, you really should stop worrying about me.

On a more pleasant note, I’ve found some fellow Star Wars fans over here, and we decided to start a club. It’s been two weeks now and we’ve been practicing moving things around without the use of our wands to make it look like the Force. It’s very funny, and we’re thinking about making a play. Don’t worry, we won’t use the Force to boss people around, because we don’t want to be sent to Azkaban, if you know what I mean.

Love,

PS : Do try this one please. I promise it won’t make your thumbs whistle, it’s something much more pleasant this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BF: Now, let's play a little game called "What the fuck is Shelly's birthday present?"  
> Enclosed to the first letter, there is a single piece of paper. It's a 25cmx25cm square. One face is off-white, the other is a deep cerulean blue. The paper is obviously Muggle, but it's good quality. The grammage is light, it looks expensive.  
> There is a strange patterns of 26 segments drawn with a slightly darker blue ink on the blue face. The pattern present an axis of symmetry. The white one is blank.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: This letter is charred and damaged beyond readability in a few places. What’s readable and the approximate way it’s spaced are shown here.

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Tuesday, May 4th, 1997

Dear Astoria,  
Your present arrived the day before my birthday, and it took a few minutes to figure out exactly what it was, but once it occurred to me to try blowing on it, I was absolutely delighted! I’m in a single room this year because I earned the top marks in the region in Transfiguration last year, and they reward things like that, so I don’t have to worry about bothering people with an origami blue jay flying all over the place. I decided to wait until your next long letter to send my reply.

It looks like your letter w

 

 

 

Anyways, here’s hoping that’s not anything you have to worry about. I know sometimes that sort of thing will happen in situations like that, but I can’t imagine the two of us are anything they have to worry about. I agree with you about trying to find a way to talk without having to send letters like this or put people in danger. For one thing, I feel like I need up-to-the-minute information on Dean and Seamus. Have they gotten together yet?

I asked my dad about it, and he had a solution: there’s something called a Sneak’s Vanity that should let us talk to each other. Last weekend, we went to Chicago and I spent some of my birthday money on a pair. I’m enclosing one of the pair with this letter. It looks like a makeup compact, but say my name while you’re looking into it, and I think you’ll get the idea.

I just had to see if I could learn firsthand about the poison incident, so I asked Seamus to hand-deliver a letter to Harry Potter for me. I sent that request on my birthday, but I haven’t gotten an answer of any kind yet, not even from Seamus. Could you a

 

I’m glad you got to talk to Harry Potter! Dean’s last letter said Potter’s been looking almost as bad as Dean feels. Did he look like he was particularly ti  
                                                                                    getting to him.

So glad you got the Weasleys to stop selling those potions! We just had a whole big scandal with people brewing up love potions again. It turns out the AP Potions seniors were running an experiment. They were taking polyjuice to look like each other and then seeing what happened when they brewed love potions while using the polyjuice. They almost all got expelled, but Doctor Macduff says that they followed the best procedures they could and reduced it to detentions for the rest of the year and kicking the nine (nine! This is why I didn’t take AP potions! I’ll stick with the regular Potions course next year. AP kids are CRAZY) who were doing the experiments down to regular Potions.

I’m proud of you for talking to Ben! Don’t let yourself fall too hard, though. Remember, you’re very young. I mean, I am too, but you’re even younger than me. You and Ben are both likely to change a lot. That doesn’t mean you sh

                                                                                                                to be careful.

It’s so cool that you’ve learned the cats that well! I never thought to name mine. I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, anyways; I’m afraid I’m pretty unremarkable. Most people just get solid-colored black or grey cats about twice the size of an ordinary housecat. I’ve got black ones, a little larger than usual, but perfectly identical. Siamese spirit cats usually means a privileged upbringing and a talent for divinations. Maybe you should talk to the divinations teacher.

It sounds like you did really well on the rain dance. Seamus told me about it, too, and between you and him, I’m certain you guys succeeded. You’re probably ready to move on to some of the more advanced dances. There’s one in there that you can use to control the winds enough to make a little mini-tornado. There’s one that calls down lightning, too, but you have to do it wandless, and the spell isn’t in that book. You can find it in

It’s very funny to me that you’ve started up your own Star Wars club. I couldn’t get one started here no matter how hard I tried! I’m so jealous!

I tried the tea you sent! Thank you so much! It was delicious, and I loved how many people complimented me on what it did. Who knew that people would actually think glowing was attractive like that.

Stay safe, Astoria! I do worry about you, an

 

                    ve,


	18. Chapter 18

Shelly Fletcher,  
Flatcap, Rainpath Centre for Magical Education,  
Rainpath Valley, Colorado, USA

Thursday, the 20th of May, 1997

Dear Shelly,

Your letter arrived in a piteous state. It was extremely crumpled and, whereas it clearly suffered from bad weather conditions, I think some part of the damage was intentional. Some bits are unreadable, and look as though they’ve been erased. There are some burn marks that remind me of that hole in the Family tapestry, in place of cousin Gideon. You mentioned something about a Vanity Sneak’s, but I’m afraid it’s missing. Whoever did this must’ve kept it. Please be careful if you ever use it.  
I’m pissed off about all this but, I hope you’ll excuse me, I haven’t had a lot of time to figure it out.

Ben’s mother has been attacked. She was walking from her shop to the nearest apparition point, and she received several hexes from blood purists. She wound up, badly injured, to St-Mungo’s and stayed there for a few days. Don’t worry, she’s home free now. She should be able to return to work in a couple of weeks, but Ben told me she wasn’t sure she’d want to.  
They don’t know who did this, as the two men were wearing a glamour, and for some reason the Aurors have stopped the investigation. On the other hand, the Ministry has offered to put their house under a fidelius charm, and I think it’s a damn good idea. Although, I don’t know if it will be enough. What if they go after Ben’s dad at his workplace in muggle London?  
I’m scared of what might happen this summer, when Ben comes back home. I don’t understand. They haven’t done anything wrong. Ben is the best student of his year.

On a totally different matter, but sadly not a pleasant one either, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Harry Potter attacked a student. Draco won’t tell what’s happened, but he claims that Harry Potter nearly killed him. He and Potter never got along, but even so, that’s no excuse to send someone to the infirmary between life and death! It doesn’t look like an ordinary quarrel, if you want my opinion. But apparently, attempting on another student’s life isn’t a motive for expulsion, not when you are Harry Potter anyway, because he stills wanders round the school, unpunished.

I’m sorry I’ve started this letter with so much bad news. Here’s a good thing to cheer you up : Seamus and Dean aren’t together yet, but it shouldn’t be long now. I’m willing to bet that one of them will make a move within the next two weeks. Seamus is the least subtle guy on earth. If Dean hasn’t understood after having whipped cream practically _licked_ from his lip by Seamus, I don’t know what he needs. And to be honest, he’s not better. You should have seen him blush when he asked me if Seamus had said something about him!

The students from the potion experiment must be very disappointed! We don’t have AP classes here, but I’ve looked it up, and it sounds like Advanced Newt. I hope I’ll be able to take potions, it’s one of my favourite subjects! Why do you say the AP kids are crazy? Do you know what happened with the love potions under polyjuice?

I try to conjure the Cats a few minutes every day, since I’ve noticed they help me relax, but I still am incapable of telling them apart. I’m pretty sure they are physically identical, but they seem to have different personalities. Bott is quite the player whilst Flourish is more the cuddler.  
I didn’t know about the divination! Well, it’s too bad, because that’s about the only subject I didn’t take in third year. I’m not sure I believe in it, and anyway I prefer more rational subjects, such as Runes and Arithmancy.  
The part where you mentioned advanced Dance techniques was erased, could you give me that recommendation again?  
I’m not sure I’ll try the tornado Dance here, though. The last noticeable one we had happened before I was even born. I wouldn’t want to worry people. Although, with the dark weather we have here nowadays, it would be quite the fit.

By the way, I may have found a way to do the online thingy on my end. Dean has agreed to help me, so whenever you’re ready, really.

Love,

PS : I’ve finished the comics. They are awesome, thank you a thousand times! Do you want them back?


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Drakey:** I am posting this note from a smartphone because I have no internet right now. This chapter is pretty important, for reasons that will be obvious once you read it. There are a couple of narrative chapters upcoming, and we're already working on part 2.
> 
> **BF:** I kinda forgot about the posting, as life has gotten a bit complicated lately. I apologize to y'all who were waiting. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 1st, 1997

Astoria,  
This is Shelly’s father, James. I am writing to you in her place to keep you informed of what is happening. The last time anyone saw her was yesterday, as she entered her room at Rainpath. I came across her collection of letters from you and from her other friends at Hogwarts, and I expect you’ll understand why I am concerned. There are signs of a struggle here, but more tellingly, the Dark Mark was placed over her building at around midnight last night. I have some connections still within the MACUSA Department of International Security and Criminal Investigation, and have obtained permission to send this letter to you via a modified portkey spell. I hope I haven’t interrupted your classes, but this is important. Shelly’s life is certainly in danger, and you have the ability to help.

Contained within this envelope, under this letter, you will find the mate to the Sneak’s Vanity she attempted to send to you. You will also find the letter she was in the process of writing to you, and a blank sheet of paper with a no-maj toothpick pushed through it.

Find Seamus Finnigan. Once you are with him, open the Vanity, activate it, and yell through it “Good luck.” If she does not reply within a minute, she is not nearby or can’t reply. If you hear her reply “I don’t need luck” or “good luck to you,” close the Vanity immediately. If she says anything else or is silent for more than a minute, close the Vanity and spell it closed with a strong sticking charm. When you have done this, write her response on the blank paper, place the Vanity on it, and break the toothpick, then immediately stand clear.

Thank you,

 

 

 

 

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Saturday, May 31, 1997

Dear Astoria,  
I’m so sorry to hear about the condition my letter arrived in! I’m honestly not very surprised, but it’s still kind of scary. I hope you got my advice about Ben, but I’ll sum it up here: It’s important to remember that you’re both pretty young, and I know from experience how much your emotions can affect you in a situation like yours. That doesn’t mean you definitely shouldn’t have sex with him, but don’t do it expecting that you and he will be together forever.

It also sounds like you didn’t get my question about Harry Potter. Does he look like the pressure of those rumors about him being meant to fight A Certain Criminal Who Shall Here Remain Nameless might be getting to him? Of course, this news about him attacking Draco Malfoy…

Seamus wrote to me about that, too. He says he’s going to talk to you, but I don’t know if he ever did. Obviously, he’s a little distracted lately. Apparently, Potter says Malfoy was about to use the cruciatas curse on him, and that’s why he attacked. Now, there’s also the fact that Potter says he didn’t know what the spell even did and he just found it scrawled in the margin of a textbook, which is to say that he’s a huge idiot. My teachers all say that you shouldn’t use a spell out of a book even if it says what it does unless you ask somebody to show you, first.

I’m so sorry to hear about Ben’s mother! It’s a real tragedy that people are getting atta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Astoria Greengrass  
Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts Castle  
Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

Monday, I think?

Astoria, I’m writing to you because you’re the closest person I could think of. They grabbed me in my room late on Saturday night. I tried to fight back, but they used the cruciatas curse on me and knocked me out. There’s a woman in here who has a way to send letters, but nobody to send them to.

They keep talking about different places. I’ve heard Wiltshire, something about Little Whinging, and something about Hogsmeade and Exeter.

Please tell someone!


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Drakey:** I'm back! Internet once again, huzzah! We switch to a prose narrative here, because the girls have finally met.  
>  **BloodyF:** This narrative part was sooo fun to write four handedly! :D

“The four of them?”

“Yes.”

“And the other girl?”

“She’s still at St Mungo’s.”

Astoria probably shouldn’t listen to the conversation Mister Fletcher and McGonagall were having by the window —it sounded quite private— but every time she dropped eyes at her friend lying unconscious in bed, she felt a jolt of guilt, so instead she kept staring blankly at Shelly’s father, standing stiffly while he watched Madam Pomfrey tend to his daughter. The American was almost fifty, with little spots of white beginning to show in his neatly-kept black goatee. He was still scowling from under an impressively severe haircut and thick, dark eyebrows, a handsome face creased with worry and anger at what had been done to his child. “You’re certain the injuries won’t last?” he asked again, fingers curled tight around his long, shiny wand. “I wouldn’t put it past the bastards to have broken her wrist with magic just to make it last.”

The hand that didn’t hold his wand rested tense against his right hip, gripping for something that wasn’t there. His tall, slim frame was twice as tense as Astoria had ever seen anyone else.

From what Astoria had gathered, Mister Fletcher had used the same magic to get to Shelly that the Death Eaters had used on her in the first place, and once he got to the abandoned mansion not far outside of Leeds, he handled the four Death Eaters by shooting them —with a Muggle gun, no less!

Madam Pomfrey’s eyes flicked up towards Mister Fletcher. “I’m certain the damage isn’t magical.”

“Dad?” Shelly had sat up, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes, and Mister Fletcher’s attention was instantly on her. Her wince at her wrist flaring up brought out a sympathetic cringe from him. Her features quickly smoothed again, dark hair and eyes looking relieved and hooked nose leading her gaze around the room.

In a few steps, Astoria joined Shelly’s father by the bed. Her heart was beating hard in her chest as she took Shelly’s hand in hers.

+----+

Shelly felt herself smiling for the first time in hours when she recognised her friend and clicked the pieces together. When she figured out where she must be, she grinned even harder. “Astoria!”

“Wotcher.” It was said with such concern and affection that Shelly couldn’t help smiling at the younger girl.

Whatever Shelly might have told the other girl over the mail, she was easily the loveliest person Shelly had ever seen right then. “You’re safe! When they took me, I was so worried they might be after you, too!”

Astoria squeezed her hand and before she could answer, a noise came from the corner of the room. Shelly looked, and recognized what seemed to be the famous Transfigurationist Minerva McGonagall. She had an amused look in her eyes and a polite smile on her lips. She looked as though she was going to talk, but before she opened her mouth, someone in healer’s robes shooed her father and Astoria off the bed. She then performed a complicated looking combination of spells on a half-alarmed Shelly, before pulling her out from under the covers and setting her on her feet.

The Hogwarts girl was a solid nine inches shorter than Shelly, and where Shelly had her father’s dark hair and slightly stretched out build, Astoria was a sort of exercise in contrasts and shades. She was prettily pale of skin, though her hair was too dark a blonde to be really ethereal, and her eyes too stormy a blue. Where Shelly was almost too skinny, Astoria was curvy in ways Shelly envied. No wonder Ben was attracted to her.

As the healer continued her medical examination, she introduced herself. “I’m Madam Pomfrey,” she said. “You’re—”

“In Hogwarts?” Shelly interrupted, eyeing her father talking to Professor McGonagall in fervent whispers.

“Does it still hurt?” the matron asked after confirming Shelly’s guess. She accompanied the question by bending Shelly’s wrist to an impossible angle, and Shelly pursed her lips at the sight. It didn’t hurt, and in fact, since the initial pain before Madam Pomfrey started in on her, she hadn’t felt anything from the wrist. Shelly shook her head. “It sure looks like it should.”

“As long as it doesn’t actually hurt” nodded Madam Pomfrey.

She grabbed a glass on the bedside table, filled it with water, and handed it to Shelly.

When Shelly did nothing, she mimed her to drink and frowned. “You’re still dehydrated, young lady,” she said in the tone of reproach, as if it was due to a special American diet or something.

She seemed satisfied when Shelly drank the full contents of the glass, and Shelly put it back on the table quickly, afraid Madam Pomfrey would fill it again if she didn’t.

Her father cleared his throat and hurried over to Shelly. “I have to go to the Ministry of Magic. I’m afraid I’ve burned my last favor from MACUSA getting here to save you, and I have to find out about how we’re getting home.” He pressed a concerned kiss to her forehead. “You’ll be okay here?”

Shelly nodded. “I’ll be fine, Dad.”

Professor McGonagall took her leave as well, frowning. “By now, I’m sure Potter and his lot will have found some trouble, with my not patrolling the halls.”

+----+

Once most of the adults had left the room, Astoria jumped tiptoe and threw her arms around her friend’s neck.

It was not the way you’re supposed to act when meeting someone for the first time, Astoria knew it, but she was _Shelly_ , and she was _alive_ and everything was _alright_ , and Astoria couldn’t not hug her hello.

Astoria squeezed her friend hard and didn’t care if the other girl noticed the way her chest was shaking in an regular rhythm. It seemed as though all the tension she had felt during the last twenty-four hours were leaving her body at once.

“I’m so relieved you’re alright,” she said after a while in a high pitched voice. “I’m so sorry” she murmured.

“No strenuous activity,” Madam Pomfrey warned in her usual stern voice. It was almost like she thought she could scold injuries away. “I mean it. Keep that wrist immobile.”

Shelly sat back down and Astoria sat beside her. “What happened, Shelly?” Astoria asked.

Shelly sighed. “I was writing to you, and I heard this awful ripping sound from my bag. It hadn’t even occurred to me that they could use the Sneak’s Vanity to get to me, so at first I was just very puzzled to see a man stepping out of my bag.”

Astoria couldn’t help giggling a little at the image of a grown man stepping out of a schoolgirl’s bag. Shelly’s little smirk told her that she wasn’t alone in finding it funny.

“It was only funny until he brought his wand up. I already had my spirit cats cast, since they can help me concentrate sometimes, so I had them jump at him, but then another man came out of the Vanity after him and they started teaming up on me.” She sighed, shuddered a little, and Astoria hugged her close for a second. “I think one of them hit me with a confounding hex, because everything got very fuzzy for a minute, although I think I might have stabbed one of them in the hand with a pen after they grabbed my wand. Anyways, I woke up in a little basement, and I felt pretty rested, so I figure I must have been there a long time. They were talking kinda loud in the room above me, and I had to focus on that to be sure of where I was. There was a girl in there with me who said her name was Amanda. Dad rescued her when he came in, too, but I don’t know much about that. All I really know is that I was almost asleep, and then there were gunshots, at least ten of them, and a lot of people casting spells. One of them was my dad. He’s supposed to be pretty amazing in a fight, but I’ve never seen it.” She shrugged. “I got to hear, though.”

Astoria nodded. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Shelly.”

Shelly sighed. “It was a rough couple of days. So what about you? Anything new with Ben?”

Astoria felt herself blush. “Not much.”

Shelly smirked. “Not even any juicy tales of late night… um… you call it ‘snogging,’ right?”

“Oh, shush you,” Astoria said gigglingly, “Maybe.”

Shelly sighed and leaned back, then swore softly when she couldn’t brace herself on her wrist. “If you really don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. I mean, I share a lot, but that’s me.”

Astoria stammered a little. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s just,” she bit her lip. “I’m not used to it, that’s all.” She giggled. “It’s easier in the letters.”

Shelly shook her head. “I know what you mean. I have to remind myself that you’re not used to... you know, the full force of my personality.” she stuck her tongue out a little. “Seamus said I might be a little overwhelming. He also kept calling you ‘Tori’, which I thought was ridiculous. I mean, you don’t actually pronounce it Astoria, do you?” Shelly had emphasised the i, making Astoria wince. “Or have I been saying it wrong?”

“Ah thank you!” Astoria smiled in relief that her friend had got it. “You’re right, it’s Astoria,” she said. “But he keeps saying Irish people would say Astori-ia,” she stuttered, pulling a face. “But I’m sure he’s just taking the piss out of me.”

The girls spent a few moments saying “Astoria” back and forth to each other before they broke into giggles.

Finally, Shelly said “It’s good to finally meet you. I’ve been so worried, and so happy to have such a good friend at the same time.”

Overwhelmed, Astoria hugged her friend once more. “You have no idea how worried I was.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: The perspective switches every time Shelly and Astoria touch in this scene. It was an interesting mechanic to work with.

Shelly looked up at a sudden noise outside the door.

The voices were indistinct, but one of them was clearly Seamus, and as they grew closer, their words came clearer. “We might be interrupting them.”

“But Dean,” Seamus’ voice objected, “I mean, the first time they get to meet and all, it’s practically a historic occasion.”

A third voice piped in with an objection of its own. “I don’t want to startle Shelly. She’s just been kidnapped, after all.” 

The door creaked open. “You see, Dean? There’s a group hug going on, and we’ve missed half of it.”

The boys filed in one at a time, with Seamus leading the way. Dean came in behind him, and Shelly couldn’t really fault Seamus for being more attracted to him than to her. He was taller than Shelly was, and absolutely gorgeous. Behind him came another boy, slightly familiar, although Shelly couldn’t place him through the fog the last day or so had left in her brain.

Astoria let go of Shelly, a lovely blush on her cheeks. It clicked. That was Ben, his dark hair longer than in the last picture of him Shelly had seen, and drawn up into a bun on top of his head. Shelly wondered if that was how he always wore it, or if he just slept like that to keep it out of his face. He had a rather cute face, with his long straight nose and his full lips. What made him truly attractive, though, was the genuine grin that had broke onto his face the moment he saw Astoria. He was tall —taller than Shelly—, and Shelly couldn’t help but imagine the both of them in bed.

Astoria got up to go and talk to her boyfriend in quiet tones, and Seamus dragged Dean by the hand to sit down next to her on the bed. Shelly looked Seamus in the face until he blushed and looked down. “Thinking about the last time we were on a bed?”

“Shelly!” Seamus cast a nervous glance at Dean. Dean, for his part, was blushing a little, but also giving her a shocked and obviously jealous look. 

“Don’t worry, Dean,” Shelly teased. “I’m not going to steal your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Dean and Seamus said together and Seamus let go of Dean’s hand at once. If it weren’t for their different accents, they would have sounded exactly the same. Even the tone they used was the same, hasty and eager to correct.

Shelly tilted her head to the side a little. “Why not?”

Both boys looked at each other like deer in the headlights. “I know you want to,” Shelly went on. “You’re practically a married couple sometimes anyway, the way Astoria tells it.”

By now, both boys were blushing so hard Shelly could barely hold back a giggle. She reached out and grabbed Seamus’ hand with her good hand. She guided it to Dean’s hand, and quietly suggested, “Tell him how you feel.”

Seamus actually managed to blush a little more, then mumbled something indistinct. Dean leaned in closer to hear better, but nothing Seamus said was clear enough to understand.

Shelly rolled her eyes, leaned over, and casually bumped into Seamus. As close as the boys were to each other, it pushed their faces together, and she smirked as both boys’ eyes went wide, then drifted closed as the kiss she’d pushed them into went from accidental to very deliberate.

Shelly leaned against the metal frame of the headboard, grinning. She felt better than she had in hours and had almost forgotten the pain in her muscles.

Astoria and Ben finished their conversation and turned towards the bed just as Seamus and Dean leaned back from the end of their kiss.

“What did I miss?” said Astoria. “Why is Shay-Shay all red in the face?”

“SHAY-SHAY?” Shelly repeated the nickname in tones of delighted astonishment. “Tell me you call him that in front of everyone!”

“No, she doesn’t,” protested a scandalized Seamus.

“Only his friends,” Astoria said.

Seamus glared at her in mock fury. “Shut up, Tori.”

Astoria laughed and hurried to pin Seamus, gently but insistently in a tickling hold.

As Astoria and Seamus started a tickle fight with the help of Dean, Ben took a step forward and rolled his eyes. “Hi, I’m Ben. How are you feeling?”

“Like an erumpant has gone and stamped on my whole body,” Shelly grinned. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Ben, I’ve heard lots about you.”

Shelly noticed, delighted, a light brush spread on Ben’s face. “I hope it was good,” he mumbled.

“It was. Astoria’s told me all about how you two got together after you asked for help with the summoning charm. I doubt you really needed that much help with it.”

Ben turned even redder and made an obvious effort to change the subject. “We’ve brought you some things.” He waved a brown bag Shelly hadn’t noticed before, then started pulling little treats out of it, which he set on the bedside table one by one. As he took them out of the bag, they all expanded slowly from a shrunk-down size to regular size.

“There’s a bakery near my house that enchants their bags like that,” Shelly said.

The tickle fight was stopped by the temptation of food, and they all started choosing little snacks. Astoria, Seamus, Dean, or Ben named anything Shelly didn’t recognize, and soon they were down to one last pepper imp. There was a brief, laughing fight over who should get it, and then Astoria handed it to Shelly.

+----+

It was the small hours of the morning, and everyone but Astoria had gone to bed when Madam Pomfrey escorted Mister Fletcher into the infirmary. Shelly woke from a well-earned sleep to peer blearily at her father, and Astoria immediately reached out to comfort her. Shelly waved away her hand.

“I’m fine,” the older girl mumbled, sitting up straight and arranging herself. She smiled. “The pain’s mostly gone.”

Mister Fletcher finished his conversation with Madam Pomfrey and headed towards the girls. He was tall enough to be a little intimidating up close, and Astoria found herself sinking a little deeper into her seat.

“How do you feel, kiddo?” Mister Fletcher asked his daughter.

Shelly gave it serious, obvious thought for a minute, and then she replied “I can safely upgrade from trampled by an erumpant to trampled by several large dogs. How was the Ministry?”

“Yes, about that,” Mr. Fletcher rubbed his neck. “The MACUSA made an exception because your life was in danger, but I’m afraid they won’t allow a Portkey before a while.”

“How long is a while?”

“Could be a week, maybe a month.”

“A month?”

Astoria jerked her head towards Shelly. The dazzling grin that had flashed on her friend’s face told her they felt exactly the same.

“I guess we’ll finally have to spend time together,” Shelly winked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BF: GIMME A D, GIMME AN E, GIMME AN A, GIMME AN M, GIMME A U, GIMME AN S.  
> I mean, _finally_.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: This scene was interesting to write. One of those pureblood parties people like so much :P

“Promise me!”

Despite the clarity of the sky, the afternoon was cool for mid July. It didn’t seem to bother Shelly much, though, as she was standing, barefoot, on the stone wall on which Astoria was sitting. She, for one, was wearing the formal shoes her mother had insisted upon, and couldn’t help but envy her friend’s casualness.

Astoria rolled her eyes. “I promise.”

Shelly crossed her arms and looked at her friend in an unsettling McGonagall impersonation. “Say it.”

Astoria laughed out loud, earning Missus Flint’s glower from the cold buffet corner a few metres away. “I promise I won’t open it before my birthday.”

“Thank you”, Shelly exclaimed. Then she started to bow in an extravagant way, and Astoria knew she should feel embarrassed, because more than a few influential Wizards were looking at them in apparent disdain, but she found that she didn’t care.

She jumped off the wall and put the small package safely under her cape. “Come on, let’s help ourselves to the petits fours,” she said, offering her hand to Shelly.

As always, the elves had surpassed themselves. The Families had come in lesser number than usual —some Families hadn’t shown at all— but the tables were overflowing with the finest dishes and most exotic wines. Mother had insisted they maintain the banquet this year, because traditions weren’t to be broken, but Astoria could hardly see the point in all that. Mother had, however, allowed Shelly to assist, and Astoria couldn’t be more thankful. She knew she would have felt very lonely among these people who didn’t seem to give a fuck about the fact that there was a war on, and people were already dying. There’d been an attack in Muggle London just the other day, and thirteen people were dead while Cousin Merle complained about the canapes.

After scrutinising the dishes, Astoria took a porcelain plate and started to fill it for the both of them.

“Where’s Daphne?” asked Shelly behind her.

“She disappeared an hour ago with Ernie McMillan,” Astoria said without looking up from the buffet.

“That pretentious dick?” Shelly snorted. “Do you think they’re doing it?”

Astoria hit her friend on the arm. “I just hope they’re not doing it on my bed. Again.”

Shelly laughed all but elegantly and leaned casually on the white-clothed table, which made Astoria smile warmly.

“Speaking of pretentious dicks. Is that…?”

Astoria turned around and spotted almost immediately a flash of white hair. “Oh, yeah. It’s Draco. I forgot you hadn’t seen him before the end of term.”

Draco was standing back from a group of elderly witches. He was staring into space, the wine in his glass threatening to spill at every absent wave of his hand. Even from where she stood, Astoria could see his blue shirt deserved a good quick ironing charm. His mouth was stretched into a thin line and dark spots were visible under his eyes. Wild locks were escaping his usually immaculate hair.

Astoria shoved the plate in Shelly’s hand and said, “Would you excuse me a second.” 

Not waiting for an answer, she closed the distance between the buffet and her childhood friend in a few steps.

“Hullo, Draco.”

The tall boy jerked, started, as if he hadn’t seen Astoria coming, which was probably true. “Hey.”

Astoria looked into Draco’s glass. He didn’t seem to have drink any of it. “How are you?” Astoria asked softly.

Draco shrugged and his grip tightened on his glass. “What about you, Astoria? I haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“We haven’t seen much of _you_ ,” Astoria raised an eyebrow.

For a moment, Draco seemed to be lost in thought and Astoria regretted not knowing legilimency.

Draco frowned as though the question took deep thought to answer. “Great,” he finally concluded with brittle cheer. “I mean, things fall apart, you know, happens all the time when you have guests, but I’m great, me.”

Astoria quirked her head to the side. Draco drew in a long breath and downed a great deal of his wine.

“I heard you had a scare. Your friend can’t get back to the States?”

Astoria nodded. “Her dad’s working on it. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, just,” Draco frowned, still not looking at her. “Just be careful, okay?”

Before Astoria could answer, the blond had disappeared from sight, leaving only questions and a fruity scent behind him.

“Annoying how attractive he is,” Shelly noted from behind Astoria. She handed the plate back to her. It was missing the eclairs Astoria had put on it. “It looked like he’s here alone? Where are Mother Dear and Daddy-May-I?”

“Draco is here alone.” Astoria picked worriedly at her jalapeño poppers. “He looked awful.”

Shelly nodded. “And his side thinks they’re winning right now.”

“You sure you don’t want to shrink me and take me home in your trunk?”

Shelly burst into laughter at her friend’s puppy eyes. “You know the MACUSA has very restrictive laws about beast importation.”

Astoria’s smile faded a little, but before Shelly could say something, she grinned and said in fake alarm, “Imagine they decide to keep me as a pet and I’m stuck at Bowtruckle size for the rest of my life.”

“They’ll fight to have you on their desk, and you’ll have to wait composedly as they discuss boring cases,” added Shelly.

“At least I’ll get to hear some gossip,” cackled Astoria. “Who knows, maybe I’ll end up on the desk of a very cute Auror who is in love with her partner. One day he’ll confess everything and who’s gonna be there to watch every bit of it?” She concluded with the little eyebrow dance to which Shelly was starting to get used.

Shelly grinned with all her teeth. “Yeah, and you’ll also be there to watch ‘em fuck on the desk right after it.”

Astoria pulled a face. “Yeah, I see your point. We wouldn’t want that.”

Astoria guided Shelly through the party for a while longer, but the truth was that there was never much to do at these affairs besides eat snacks and gossip, so after a while they went outside and Shelly showed her friend some of her spelldancing moves, just until they got tired and Mister Fletcher came back from his latest outing at the Ministry.

This time, he had a firm date when they would be able to leave.

Three days later, they found themselves on the road outside of the Greengrass house. Mister Fletcher was speaking politely with Astoria’s parents, more to give the girls time for a farewell than for any other reason.

“Will you come back?” asked Astoria, her throat painfully tight. “When the war is over, will you come back to visit?”

A conspicuous _If_ lingered unsaid between the two girls.

“Of course, Astoria. You’re my favorite dork.”

“Say it.”

“I promise I’ll come back.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: This last chapter is pretty much all BloodyFlammable, and she did a fantastic job with it. It really sets the tone for part 2. We're still working on part 2 right now, and it's maybe about a third done, so keep an eye out for it!

The Grey Lady hadn’t lied. The path to the seventh floor had been free of encounters, and the secret passage behind the tapestry of Margaery of Wales had proven useful to avoid walking before the Carrows’ office.

“I want a room where no one can find me… With a functioning computer connected to the internet… And a nice chair,” she whispered and added “Please,” for good measure.

All too slowly in Astoria’s opinion, a beautiful, gold-embellished door appeared on the wall. Astoria lost no time; she entered the room as soon as it had appeared and closed the door quietly behind her. She heard a very satisfying click and allowed herself a bit of inspection. The room was smaller than the last time, but she figured it was because she was alone. The computer was occupying the short surface of a worn out wooden desk and was as intimidating as she remembered. The corner of her lips twitched as she took sight of the comfy looking chair. She sat and pulled out a parchment from the inside pocket of her robes, pointed her wand at it and murmured “Aparecium”. 

Dean’s instructions appeared in green ink. She hadn’t questioned back then why he had insisted on giving her the computer lesson before the summer holidays. She put down the paper with a shaky hand, took a deep breath, and pushed the power button.

Whilst she waited for the computer to turn on, she replayed the course of the first two days of school in her head. Very few muggleborn students had come back, and those who did had had to suffer even more bullying than before. Even though she had started her fifth year, not one teacher had mentioned the OWLs to come. She could understand it, what with Snape having taken the headmaster position. A chill travelled her body at the thought. How could the board let Death Eaters work in a school full of children? How could they place the murderer of the previous headmaster in charge? And those Carrows… They had always given her the creeps at annual banquets. She couldn’t imagine what good they could do to Hogwarts. She was waiting almost eagerly to have her first lesson with them. No one would talk about what happened in their classrooms.

She closed her eyes, and pulled herself together.

Dean had done a really good job with his explanation, and she surprised herself not needing the instructions for the first steps.

She felt herself smile as she typed, letter by letter, the email address Shelly had chosen for her.

It took her a long time to type the email, and every now and then, she let out a grumbled “Why in the bloody hell aren’t the letters in alphabetic order?”, or a pissed off, “The time I’ll finish this, it’ll be fucking Halloween,” because it was easier than considering what was important.

After what felt like an eternity, she looked up from the keyboard and stretched her arms. She cursed aloud once more -this time about the stupid muggle device underlining everything in red- and read over her letter. She felt vaguely guilty for not mentioning Ben’s injury but she couldn’t find words to make it sound anything but awful.

She stared blankly at the blinking cursor and felt her throat tighten.

‘I’m scared’, she typed.

The words became blurry as the wet tears rolled on her cheeks. She allowed herself a few minutes of self-pity, then grabbed a tissue that had appeared on the desk and wiped her face.

Letter by letter, she erased her last sentence and pressed ‘send’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drakey: so, the girls have discovered the internet. Will this make it easier for them to talk to each other? Will this new technology help to defeat Voldemort? Will they watch an endless torrent of porn? Signs point to at least two of those answers being "yes."
> 
> BloodyFlammable: HAHAHA, so many unanswered questions!  
> Thank you for sticking with us! To be continued ;)


End file.
